The Green Snaketail is a very pretty, easily recognisable dragonfly; it combines three colours: its eyes, head and thorax are green (which becomes deeper and brighter with age), while its abdomen is black and yellow. It's a Central and Eastern European species with a few scattered populations further West (in France, Germany, and e.g. on the river Po in Italy). The species' favourite habitat consists of relatively slow-flowing rivers and brooks with a gravelly or sandy bottom, where the males occupy a sandy stretch of river bank (or a sun-exposed rock on the bank) while they wait for the females to come down to the water. The females seem to prefer to keep themselves away and are seldom seen at the water.

Flight season from June to October, but highest numbers in July.

IUCN Red List Category & Criteria as Least Concern. The species is widespread in Europe and parts of North-western Asia. The species was declining in the eighties and nineties of last century but is recently increasing due to better water management.