Key Identification Features
- Females have two characteristic oval yellow spots on the abdomen next to the thorax, a feature shared with females of the brilliant emerald dragonfly.
- Both sexes have distinct yellow spots on their faces next to the eyes, which are bright green in mature individuals.
- Northern emerald larvae are distinctly hairy, and moult multiple times during development.
- This species is indistinguishable from Whitehouse's emerald (Somatochlora whitehousei) when only looking at external features other than the shape of the male cerci and the female subgenital plate.
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