A species mainly associated with acidic lakes and pools in the north and west, although it is also found in the south of England. It nearly always occurs in water with a pH of 6 or below where vegetation is sparse. In northern England it may occur at altitudes of up to 500 metres but in the south S. scotti is often found near sea-level.

The map is based on records from NBN Gateway, with yellow dots showing pre 1990 records, reds dots 1990 – 2015 records and red on yellow dots overlapping records.

Although many species of Sigara may look similar at first glance, a combination of the following characters will generally be sufficient for identification: the length, the number of pale lines on the pronotum (and sometimes the shape of the pronotum) , the structure of the male pala and the shape of the metasternal xiphus. Sometimes the pattern of dark and light lines on the forewing and the form of a facial depression in the males of some species may also be useful. Sigara scotti is one of the smaller species of the genus (length of 5.0 – 6.2 mm), with 5-6 pale lines on the pronotum, usually with two longitudinal dark lines on the corium and a male pala with a wavy horizontal line of pegs (see below).

                       Male pala