Pallid Spreadwing (Lestes pallidus)

Pallid Spreadwing, Lestes pallidus Bleekspanvlerkie is medium sized, overall greyish and striped, but very variable in patterning and colour.

Images

Male

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Male:

Face dark grey,labrum and lower part of anteclypeus greenish blue. Head dark grey from above.
Eyes conspicuously bright sky blue above, light grey below,with central grey flecks.
Thorax ranges from sandy brown to greenish, blue to nearly black. Strongly, weakly of parsley striped, but never dark green.
Clear wings- become yellowish. Pterostigmas mostly bi-coloured dark grey with light border, becoming blackish grey with age.
Abdomen with dark, dorsal line along its length. Segments 1, 2,7 and 8 mostly dark grey. Segments 3 to 6 mostly greenish grey in young males, greenish blue in older individuals. Segments 9 and 10 heavily pruinescent light grey. Upper appendages straight in lateral view and tips pointing towards each other.

Female:

Prefers standing and mostly temporary waters in open landscapes, open areas in forest or shaded by gallery forest. Usually with emergent and often aquatic vegetation.
From 0 to 1900 m above sea level, but mostly between 800 and 1500.

Smaller and with a paler thorax as L. plagiatus (Highland Spreadwing) .
Does not have the speckled look of L. dissimulans, L. tridens (Spotted Spreadwing) or L. uncifer (Sickle Spreadwing) . Lacks the broad black, dorsal abdominal band.

Distribution:

South Africa:

Pallid Spreadwing, Lestes pallidus Bleekspanvlerkie is common and widespread across Namibia and the northern parts of South Africa west and central KZN

Africa:

Angola; Botswana; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Chad; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ethiopia; Gambia; Ghana; Kenya; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Republic of South Africa; Senegal; Somalia; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe;