Lestes ictericus
Face: light to dark brown, with bluish green labrum. Head above, tawny brown.
Eyes: dull greyish blue in front, buff behind.
Prothorax: deep yellow, brown posteriorly.
Synthorax: tawny brown above, deep yellow below.
Wings: clear, but slightly smoky in old individuals, with dark venation. Roundish tips.
Pterostigmas: blackish brown, short.
Abdomen: mostly greyish brown, with blackish brown dorsal stripe. S9 yellowish, with tiny spots. S10 also yellowish.
Female: Similar to male. Pale rust brown head, and unmarked thorax. Underside of thorax buff with light pruinescence. An individual from N of KZNP was melanic (blackish).
Medium-sized, tawny brown, with few markings. Sluggish, low-elevation streams and pools, in N of KZNP.
Rests on tall grass and reed stems, mostly overwater.
This small Lestes species, similar to L. dissimulans, L. pallidus and L. tridens, is easily recognised by its unmarked brown thorax. Has a smooth brownish appearance with deep yellow under thorax and on tip of abdomen. Confirm by examining appendages, the superiors of which lack any teeth or serrations, and inferior appen dages which are very short.
Very localised in SA, onlyNof KZNP. To E andWAfrica.
Flight period: Jan-May
Grassy and reedy pools or sluggish parts of streams in dry, hot savanna.