It’s not very often that the exuvial records outnumber records of adults! Thanks to Nicole Matton discovering these 4 exuviae on the walls of an ornamental pool at Lilleshall Hall we now have 5 exuviae records for Emperor Dragonfly this year and no sightings of adults! These are very large exuviae (typically 45-56mm long) and can be distinguished from other hawker exuviae in this country not just by size, but also the distinctive circular headshape and eyes that ‘fit into the circle of the head’ and are far less ‘bulgy’ than other hawkers.
And the reason exuviae records are great is because we know this species has successfully bred in this case at Lilleshall Hall and wasn’t just flying through.
