| Hemianax ephippiger | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Family: | Aeshnidae |
| Genus: | Hemianax |
| Species: | H. ephippiger |
| Binomial name | |
| Hemianax ephippiger (Burmeister, 1839) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Anax ephippiger |
|
The Vagrant Emperor, Hemianax ephippiger or Anax ephippiger, is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae. It is found in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi. Recorded in Malta in 1957, and every few years since, it is seen through migration in large numbers. It has never been recorded breeding in the Maltese archipelago. Its natural habitats are shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marches, and freshwater springs.
A rare long-distance migrant to the British Isles, occasionally seen even in winter.