#3709 · 🪽 dragonflies & damselflies
Western Clubtail
🇳🇱 Plasrombout ·Gomphus pulchellus
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
Gomphus pulchellus , the western clubtail , is a species of dragonfly in the family Gomphidae. It is found in Western Europe, although absent in the British isles. Its natural habitat are clean ponds and canals, clay and mud holes.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 81 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #48 most seen of the dragonflies & damselflies in NL.
- 2,535 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Edmond de Selys Longchamps in 1840 (186 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Western Clubtail
- Nederlands
- Plasrombout
- scientific name
- Gomphus pulchellus
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Odonata
- family
- Gomphidae
- IUCN Red List
- NT · near threatened
- sightings in NL
- 81
- sightings in Europe
- 2,399
- sightings worldwide
- 2,535
- GBIF records in NL
- 8,917
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1840 by Edmond de Selys Longchamps
IUCN in Dutch: gevoelig. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Gomphidae
#3706 📷 10Common Clubtail
🇳🇱 Beekrombout
Gomphus vulgatissimus
LC 👀 91 in NL
#3716 📷 10River Clubtail
🇳🇱 Rivierrombout
Stylurus flavipes
LC 👀 40 in NL
#3721 📷 9Small Pincertail
🇳🇱 Kleine tanglibel
Onychogomphus forcipatus
LC 👀 16 in NL
#3731 📷 8Large Pincertail
🇳🇱 Grote tanglibel
Onychogomphus uncatus
LC 🌍 4.7k seen
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 101687, Wikidata Q1051785, GBIF 5051947, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.