Southern Riverking (Zygonoides fuelleborni)

Male

Female

Ring

Southern Riverking, Zygonoides fuelleborni, Krasse Bottelstert is fairly large to large sized, mostly blackish with a few dull yellow spots.

Fuelleborn's Bottle-tail, Robust Bottletail, Robust Riverking

Habitat

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Fairly large to large sized, mostly blackish with a few dull yellow spots.

Male:

Face yellow, black and grey. Labrum pale yellow with fine blackish margin and two central greyish dots. Anteclypeus and postclypeus light grey. Frons grey in front and top corners, with two blackish, slightly metallic, C-shaped markings touching in mid line from above. Top of head dark brown with grey pimple-like peaks.
Eyes bluish rather than green in life.
Thorax very large,dark brown with slight metallic green sheen and some patchy indistinct dull yellow stripes.
Wings slightly smoky, front and underside of costal veins pale yellowish. Hind wing base dark brown. Pterostigmas black and long, 4.1–4.5 mm).
Abdomen is noticeably swollen at base, narrowing down greatly on segments 3 and 4, (ratio widest: narrowest, 2.5:13:1) overall shiny black with dull yellow side spots and fine yellow line running along top of its length. Pale central band on s 7 widest laterally. S 3 dark with pale spots, with white pruinescent ring with maturity, widest at sides and conspicuous in the field.

Female:

Mostly rivers, but also streams and large lakes, in open landscapes or shaded by gallery forest. Especially faster sections (rapids, falls), often with rocks.
From 0 to 1500 m above sea level, but mostly below 1100, although possibly up to 2100.

It occurs along broad, shallow, rocky, swift and hot savanna rivers with bushy or open banks.
It patrols swift rivers, regularly settling on bushes, sticks or on rocks in the water.Often hunts near rapids from close by perches
Hunting swarms wheel around high up between trees at dusk.

Its black and yellow colouring readily distinguishes it from Blue cascader (Zygonyx natalensis)
Very similar to Z. torridus but settles far more frequently. It also has a horizontal, rather than vertical position at rest.
O. fuelleborni eyes are bluish (rather than green in life) Ringed Cascader (Z. torridus) eyes are blackish
It is stouter than Z. torridus with shorter wings. In side view, the swollen, then contracted, abdomen (ratio widest: narrowest, 2.5:13:1) contrasts with Z. torridus (4:1.5)
Z. fuelleborni also has white, pruinescent ring in first third of abdomen.
Female of O. fuelleborni has longer (5 mm) pterostigmas than Z. torridus (4 mm),and frons above does not have central black mark.
Often found in same habitat as Z. natalensis and Z torridus