In this article identification of freeflying Anax imperator and A. parthenope is discussed. Considerable discrepancy between a review of characteristics from identification literature and actual depicted and photographed individuals is noted. Characters are much more variable within species, and overlap between species is larger than usually stated. Use of a single character from literature for identification will very often yield an inconclusive or even wrong result. Therefore checking of as many characters as possible is strongly recommended. A diagnosis for reliable exclusion is given.