---
title: "Emerald Spreadwing"
description: "Lestes dryas — Insects & spiders. Lestes dryas is a species of damselfly in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/emerald-spreadwing
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Emerald Spreadwing

> Lestes dryas — Insects & spiders. Lestes dryas is a species of damselfly in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings.

- Scientific name: *Lestes dryas*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 8886
- Wikidata: [Q1532575](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1532575)
- iNaturalist taxon: [104429](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/104429)

## Names

- en: Emerald Spreadwing
- de: Glänzende Binsenjungfer
- es: Lestes robusto
- fr: Leste des bois
- nl: Tangpantserjuffer
- pl: Pałątka niebieskooka

## Countries with the most observations

US (2400), CA (1353), RU (1259), FR (368), ES (324), DE (306), PT (231), DK (217), NL (123), IT (94), GB (86), LT (73)

## Summary

Lestes dryas is a species of damselfly in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings. Its common names include emerald spreadwing, scarce emerald damselfly and robust spreadwing. An alternate name in Ireland is the turlough spreadwing.
This species is native to the Holarctic, especially northern parts of Eurasia and North America. It is relictual in North Africa.
Lestes dryas can tolerate extreme conditions that few other dragonflies can survive.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lestes_dryas

## Photo

![Emerald Spreadwing](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/emerald-spreadwing/medium.jpg)

Photo: Reuven Martin · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8902754

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/emerald-spreadwing?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).