Little Wisp (Agriocnemis exilis)

Male

Male

Male

Agriocnemis exilis. Little Wisp, Kleinsoentjie is minute to very small, mostly shiny black and its abdomen has a bright orange tip.

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Male:

Size: Length 17-20mm (♂) 19 - 23mm (♀): Wingspan 18-22mm (♂) 21-27mm (♀):
Face bright green and black. Labrum shiny black with mauve metallic sheen and edged in yellowish green. Anteclypeus greenish. Postclypeus shiny black, edged in light green. Cheeks light green. Front of frons forms a trans-verse green band, usually divided by a fine vertical black band so that this black line forms the delicate stem of a T-shape with the transverse black of the postclypeus. Occasional individuals without this ‘stem’ so that the green moustache runs across undivided.
Head mat black with a bronze tinge from above with two small oval, bright light blue postocular spots.
Eyes black above, light green below. Neck shiny black with light green collar and hind margin.
Thorax shiny black with very fine yellowish green shoulder stripes, sides light greenish yellow.
Wings clear. Pterostigmas dirty brown. Legs mostly greenish yellow with fine black markings around the joint of the femur and tarsus.
Abdominal segments 1 to 6 and the first two-thirds of segment 7 shiny black from above. Second two-thirds of segment 7 and all of segments 8 to 10 bright orange. Abdomen greenish yellow below, in some individuals the black stripe running along the top may reach beginning of segment 8. Appendages light orange.

Female:

With black head and light brown moustache finely divided by a vertical black bar, thorax reddish brown with fine indistinct blackish stripes.

Prefers flooded margins of shallow open pools, dams and pans with a great abundance of fairly short reddish grasses, sedge and reeds.

It rests with its head upwards on grass stems close to the water and cruises low down among the thick vegetation.

White-masked Wisp, Agriocnemis falcifera is one of the largest Agriocnemis species in SA along with A. gratiosa Gracious Wisp
A. falcifera pterostigmas with characteristically different colours in fore- and hind wing of the male
A. falcifera has a very conspicuous pruinescent white moustache and elongated postocular spots
A. ruberrima is easily recognised by its mostly all orange abdomen when seen from above.
A.pinheyi, A. exilis (Little Wisp), and A. gratiosa (Gracious Wisp) are similar.
A. pinheyi intermediate in size between the smaller A. exilis and the larger A. gratiosa.
A. gratiosa and A. pinheyi has postocular spots intermediate in size between the smaller ones of A. exilis, and the larger ones of A. gratiosa.
A. pinheyi has a fine, thorax shoulder stripe like A. exilis, but not the wider stripe of A. gratiosa
A. pinheyi with unbroken light green moustache runs from eye to eye. Usually in A. exilis but always in A. gratiosa it is broken by a black division
The dorsal, black, abdominal stripe of A. pinheyi tapers in S8 as it does in A. gratiosa and usually S7, but sometimes S8, in A. exilis.
A. pinheyi appendages are distinctive with a downward-pointing horn on the inferior appendages ending in a small, slightly upturned hook. Diagnostic

Distribution Map

Political Map

Topographical Map

Distribution Map

Political Map

Topographical Map

South Africa:

localised on the coastal plain of KwaZulu-Natal and extends northwards to the Mpumalanga lowveld and Limpopo Province. Its range extends north to West Africa and Ethiopia. It also occurs on Madagascar and Mauritius

Africa:

lts range extends north to West Africa and Ethiopia. It also occurs on Madagascar and Mauritius