Ringed Cascader, Zygonyx torridus, Kringklatertjie

Male Nwanedi LP RSA
107 542 MP RSA Mch 2018
Reinion July 2018
Short description:

Ringed Cascader, Zygonyx torridus is large sized, black with yellow ringed abdomen.

Family Libellulidae      (Leach, 1815)
More images:

107 541 Ringed cascader 1Image
Gallery

Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader MaleMale
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Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018Male
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Zygonix torrdus Ringed CascaderFemale
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River Reed Rapid Leselo Lodge LP RSA Oct 2020r 2Habitat:

 

 

 

 

 

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Key identification features:

Male:

  • Face yellow brown to dark brown in front, blackish metallic above. Labrum and anteclypeus dark brown. Postclypeus dark brown, dull yellow at sides. Frons yellow brown to dark brown along Covered with dark hair.  Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018 margin and at sides, sightly dimpled black metallic purple in front and above. Top of head shiny dark brown, slightly metallic Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017
  • Eyes blackish brown  Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018
  • Thorax slightly metallic black, with some indistinct (with age) broken yellow stripes Hind legs (largely) black.  Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017 Neck and dorsal thorax (lateral thorax with less) covered with white hair. white hair Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017
  • Wings clear and pointed, becoming slightly smoky with age. Pterostigmas, long and black, Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017r 17 can be variable in length, sometimes longer in fore wing, 4.0–4.8 mm, compared to 4.2–4.5 mm in hind wing. 9½-11½ Ax in fore wing Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018 
  • Abdomen black with yellow side patches and fine yellow lines on top of each segment. Zygonyx torridus, Ringed Cascader, Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018 Segments 4-8 with large lateral pale spots Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018. Yellow patches almost connected on s6 - 7, faint on s9, in the field giving the appearance that the abdomen is ringed in black and yellow Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017 . Segment 10 and appendages black

Female:

  • Similar to male,Zygonix torrdus Ringed Cascader Reinion July 2018 with black and yellow stripes on thorax distinct and top of head dull brown.Zygonix torrdus Ringed Cascader Reinion July 2018  
  • Abdomen S1 - 2 broad yellow bands the bands on the abdomen may be duller than on the male 

Habitat:  River Reed Rapid Leselo Lodge LP RSA Oct 2020r 2

  • Streams and rivers and shallow rivers with bush-lined or open banks, open landscapes, but sometimes in open areas in forest or shaded by gallery forest. Often faster sections (rapids, falls) with rocks and a gravelly and/or sandy bottom.
  • From 0 to 2300 m above sea level, but mostly below 1500, although possibly even higher up.
Behaviour:
  • It hawks up and down over riffles and glides, hovering over open stretches of fast water, or flies rapidly and high over and between bushes and trees away from the water, both in the day and at dusk.
  • The female is rarely close to the water and usually found hawking among bushes and trees.
 Compared with other species:
  • Metallic tip of frons and vertex distinguishes Z. natalensis (Blue Cascader) Zygonyx natalensis Blue Cascader Male Close up Mabusai LP RSA Dec 2018 and Z. torridus (Ringed Cascader) Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017 from Orthetrum (Skimmers).
  • Both Z. natalensis and Z. torridus  hunting  behaviour of flying rapidly over splash zones are similar, but is unlike any Orthetrum (Skimmer)
  • Z. natalensis Zygonyx natalensis Blue Cascader Male Close up Mabusai LP RSA Dec 2018 is similar to but smaller than Z. torridus. 100 737 Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Farmstay LP RSA Dec 2017r 2 Z. torridus is blackish brown with distinct yellow marks on abdomen and lightly pruinescent
  • Female Z. natalensis yellow markings make up only a small fraction of the abdominal segments Zygonyx natalensis Blue Cascader Young Female Nwanedi LP RSA SEP 2016(whereas it is about 50% Z. torridus Zygonix torrdus Ringed Cascader Reinion July 2018),
    Z. natalensis vertex is highly metallic Zygonyx natalensis Blue Cascader Male Close up Mabusai LP RSA Dec 2018. All brown and only slightly metallic in Z. torridus Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018. The upper corners of Z. natalensis frons are metallic Zygonyx natalensis Blue Cascader Male Close up Mabusai LP RSA Dec 2018, but yellow in Z. torridus Zygonyx torridus Ringed Cascader Male Close up Nwanedi LP RSA Dec 2018).
Distribution:

Zygonyx torrdus Ringed Cascader Map 05 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  South Africa:

  •  Common in the southern , eastern and northern provinces but not in the dry central region

Africa:

  • Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Côte d'Ivoire; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinee-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mali; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nigeria; Republic of South Africa; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Socotra (Yemen); Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Tunisia; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Further Reading:

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