Anax guttatus (Burmeister, 1839), the Pale-spotted Emperor or Lesser Green Emperor, is very widely distributed from India to Japan and Australia and Pacific Ocean Islands. In Asia, it can be found in China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, and Hainan), Indonesia, India, Japan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It is found in Africa, too.

It is a large dragonfly, with male has an abdomen 56-62 mm, hind wing 50-54 mm, female has an abdomen 56-58mm, hind wing 52-54 mm.

The male has a golden yellow to bright greenish yellow face. Eyes are Blue with yellow and black behind. Thorax is pale green. Legs arebBlack. Outer and inner surfaces of anterior
femora is yellow. Wings are transparent, hindwing with large amber yellow patch. Wing spot is long narrow and reddish. The first and second segments of the abdomen are pale green, however the second segment is turquoise blue dorsally. The third segment is green with a pair of dorsal triangular turquoise blue spots, and is flanked by a pair of anterior and posterior bright orange spots. The segment 4-7 has 3 pairs of bright orange spots. In segments 8 and 9 two pairs of orange spots are confluent and segment 10 is entirely yellow. 

The female is similar to the male in most respects. However, the hindwing often lack the amber patch. The turquoise blue of second segment is broken into four square patches. The orange spots of the abdomen are more confluent.

It is a diurnal species, which occasionally, comes to light at night. Usually seen perched on bare twigs and makes frequent sallies to catch insects such as small butterflies and
dragonflies. This dragonfly is very common near marshes, ponds and big wells. It Breeds in marshes. Flight season from May to November. 

Anax guttatus is a very widespread species that breeds in open and disturbed habitats and has no known threats. Therefore it is assessed by IUCN Red List as Least Concern.