RHYOTHEMIS FLUTTERERS DRAGONFLY

Rhyothemis is a genus of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. They are commonly known as Flutterers. Rhyothemis species are found in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific region.

More than twenty species inhabit sunny marshes from Africa to Australia and the Pacific. The five African species are small to medium-sized (hindwing 21-32 mm), have bronzy black bodies and strongly dark-patterned wings with blue and purple reflections. They display their wings while perching pennant-like (at the tip of a conspicuous perch with legs thrust forward and wings raised) or in fluttering flight (R. mariposa is named for the Spanish word for butterfly), often in groups at some height, gliding to and fro. Although their flight seems weak, they can be remarkably fast and evasive, and at least R. semihyalina migrates at night. R. fenestrina was long treated as a subspecies of R. notata, but the two overlap widely, the latter preferring more forested habitats. R. splendens is only known from the type series from Kabongo in Katanga and a recent sighting further north in DR Congo.