Arrow lance

Latin hastulatus - armed with a short spear (hastula - short spear). Males on the II segment of the abdomen have a characteristic pattern in the form of a spear ^[4] .

Length 31-34 mm, abdomen 28-30 mm, rear wing 17-22 mm ^[1] . The head is wide. The posterior edge of the pronotum is triangular in shape, elongated back in the middle, wholly or partially bright, forming an obtuse angle in the middle; the protrusion is absent. Bands on the sides of the abdomen are missing. The wings are transparent, their pterostigma is monochromatic, narrow, equal to 1 cell,. Legs are black or dark gray.

The color of the male is blue or bluish-green, its abdomen with black pattern on the I — VII abdominal rings, VIII — IX rings are blue, X is black. Posterior margin of pronotum triangular and blue. The black spot on the III — V tergites of the abdomen occupies half of their length. Occipital spots are interconnected by a light transverse line. The eyes and the front of the head are green or yellowish-green. Rectangular pterostigma ^[3] . The color of the female is bluish or greenish yellow, its abdomen with a black pattern and extensive bronze-black spots on the upper surface of the abdomen. The posterior margin of the pronotum is framed behind the yellowish-green line ^{[3] [5]} .

The northern and middle parts of Europe and Siberia to Lake Baikal . Euro-Baikal boreal-forest species ^[3] .

In Ukraine, in the northern regions, the species is common; in the southern direction, its population decreases. There is no information about the habitat of the species in the Carpathians, the southern regions (Chernivtsi, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Donetsk) and the Crimea, although some finds are known in more southern points outside Ukraine ^[6] .

Flight time : mid-May - end of July. The species prefers standing reservoirs of any kind: lakes, ponds, ditches, streams, backwaters of slowly flowing small rivers, but prefer small ponds, swamps, puddles rich in aquatic vegetation. The female lays eggs in the leaf leaf stalks. In this case, the female is often completely immersed in water, and the male accompanying her is only half full.

Body color of the larvae is variable: greenish, yellowish or brownish. Her body is smooth, covered with dark brown dots. The body length by the end of development reaches 21-23 mm. Larvae usually live at a depth of 0.1-0.5 m among aquatic vegetation ^[3] .