Sooty Darter, Trithetrum congoense

Short Description:

Sooty Darter, Trithetrum congoense,   medium-sized (hindwing 23-29 mm) and diagnostically uniform, unmarked, blackish, sometimes lightly pruinose

Family Libellulidae. Leach, 1815

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Key identification features:

Male:

• Face reddish brown, Frons without band
• Eyes d green to black
• Thorax uniformly blackish, sometimes lightly pruinose,  unmarked 
• Wings venation blackish. Forward discoidal field 5-8 cells wide on wing border. Pterostigmas, dark with creamy interior
• Abdomen blackish with no markings. Secondary genitalia.Lobe of hamule elongate, not angled anteriorly, its tip extending beyond genital lobe.

Female:

• currently no information

Habitat:

• Mostly rivers, but also streams, standing waters and possibly flowing channels in marshes, in open areas in forest. Often with blackwater, usually with emergent vegetation.
• From 200 to 500 m above sea level.

Compared to other species:

• Body parts uniform.:Thorax unmarked; frons without band. S1-10 unmarked;
• T. congoense especially recalling Trithemis grouti, but have a different posture, sitting with abdomen held low and wings flat or slightly raised, often on leaves.
• May be mistaken for Trithemis , Dropwings
  
• May look close to very mature, Little Percher, Diplacodes deminuta, Black Percher, Diplacodes lefebvrii, Dwarf Percher, Diplacodes pumila

Distribution:

Africa:

• Congo-Brazzaville; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Gabon

Further reading:

Websites:

•     The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species    Least Concern
•     African Dragonflies & Damselflies Online
•    Odonata Atlas of Africa Number

[Adapted from Dijkstra & Clausnitzer 2014]