Eastern Billabongfly
S4, Male, profile
Eastern Billabongfly
S4, Male, Head Stripe
| Eastern Billabongfly S4, Male, profile | | Eastern Billabongfly S4, Male, Head Stripe | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Dragonflies (Odonata) | ||||
| Family: | Damselfly (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Eastern Billabongfly (Austroagrion watsoni) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S2, Female, Head stripe🔎 | ||||
Thank you Dr Christopher Burwell for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere Females ~27mm to ~29mm long, our male was ~27mm. Our 1st 2 females were very yellow compared to most, and quite different to the blue males normally seen. S2 has more blue. They are impossible to see when flying, for such a long species they are so thin. We originally thought this was an Orange Threadtail (Nososticta solida), but on capture realised the head markings were different. So then thought Red & Blue Damselfly (Xanthagrion erythroneurum) ... but it was sooooo yellow! Christopher kindly helped us out and said "One of the best characters to separate Red and Blue Damsel from Eastern Billabongly - especially useful for the females which are most similar - it the black streak low down on the side of the thorax the starts near the base of the abdomen. That streak is quite long in Eastern Billabonfly but very short in Red and Blue Damsel. It can get a bit tricky if there are shadows as the groove that the streak runs along can sometimes look dark." We've marked the photo's to highlight the suture that Christopher is discussing. Similar Species: Red & Blue Damselfly (Xanthagrion erythroneurum) | |||||
| |||||
| |||||