There are only two species of red and black damselfly in Britain, the large red damselfly and the small red damselfly. The large red damselfly, as suggested by its name, is the larger and more robust insect. Furthermore it can be distinguished by its black legs and the broad red, or occasionally yellow, antehumeral (shoulder) stripes. The small red damselfly has red legs and very narrow or non-existent antehumeral stripes. There are three colour forms of female large red damselfly ranging from a nearly all black form with yellow antehumeral stripes to females that have almost as little black on the abdomen as a male. The most common female form is partway between these extremes having extensive black markings only on the last four segments of the abdomen and red antehumeral stripes.