Platycypha caligata

Platycypha caligata
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Chlorocyphidae
Genus: Platycypha
Species: P. caligata
Binomial name
Platycypha caligata
(Selys, 1853)
Synonyms

Libellago caligata Selys, 1853

Platycypha caligata (dancing jewel) is a species of damselfly in the family Chlorocyphidae. It is found in eastern, central and southern Africa from Ethiopia to Angola and South Africa. Its natural habitats include shady parts of subtropical or tropical streams and rivers in forest, woodland, savanna, and shrubland, and shorelines of lakes.[1]

Female Dancing Jewel. Ithala Game Reserve

Males perform remarkable territorial and courtship displays which include flashing their brightly coloured legs and waving their abdomens.[2][3]

References

  1. Clausnitzer, V.; Suhling, F.; Dijkstra, K.-D.B. (2010). "Platycypha caligata". www.iucnredlist.org. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  2. Preston-Mafham, Rod; Preston-Mafham, Ken (1993). The encyclopedia of land invertebrate behaviour (1st MIT Press ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p. 39. ISBN 0262161370. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  3. Jennions, M. D. (1998). "Tibial coloration, fluctuating asymmetry and female choice behaviour in the damselfly Platycypha caligata". Animal Behaviour. 55 (6): 1517–1528. doi:10.1006/anbe.1997.0656.


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