Horned Rockdweller (Bradinopyga cornuta)

Horned Rockdweller, Bradinopyga cornuta, Wegkruipertjie

100 544 Female Thipese LP RSA Dec 2018r 3

Short description:

Horned Rockdweller, Bradinopyga cornuta, Wegkruipertjie is medium sized, all mottled brown and grey dragonfly, with horned shaped protrusion on the head (frons and vertex), long wings and short all mottled grey, brown and greyish yellow abdomen.

Also known as Flecked Wall-skimmer

Family Libellulidae Leach, 1815

More images:

Click on all images to enlarge or vie more

Key identification features:

Male

Face is greyish with the labrum light yellow with a dark brown lip. Frons very rounded, with two short, sharp horns, grey tipped, dusted with dark brown. Vertex very high, with two, dark brown short horns, with a light yellowish grey base.
Eyes are dark brown with spotted grey below.
Thorax mottled light brown to pinkish white / brown. Prothorax and behind eyes lighter and often more visible when perching
Dorsal carina has well defined "shark fin" shaped protrusion
Wings are long, clear with brown veins, and brown extreme tips (when old), and often with brown, basal streak between subcosta and radius. Light amber patch at wing base. Pale appendages
Abdomen mottled pinkish/grey white and brown with distinct pinkish/ grey white markings on s 7. The marking on s 7 sometimes the only visible part when perching against a rock. May be whitish grey when young

Female

Very similar to male, but with smaller horns on head.
Mottles tends to be more pink than the male mottles when young
More extensive darkened wing tip and hardly any basal streaks. S 7 lighter than with male
Abdomen stouter

Note

Click here for diagram of the horns of the Horned Rockdweller

Habitat:

Standing and mostly temporary waters in open landscapes. Often with bare banks and a hard (like rocky) bottom. Rocky outcrops and domes with rain pools (sometimes stagnant) or in pools at or near fast, lowveld rivers in which it breeds. Will easily settle on man-made structures like brick walls and other cement structures like the walls of dams resembling rocky outcrops.
From 0 to 1700 m above sea level, but mostly below 1600.

Behaviour:

Settles on bare rocky outcrops and domes where it is well camouflaged.
Often only seen when hunting from the rocky perch.
Will be found in cooler pert of rocks during the heat of the day.
On males and females s 7 may be the early clue of their presence. Extremely alert, and flies off rapidly when disturbed and usually returning later.
Females usually with or near males.
Females will perch on the pocks close to the water’s edge to oviposit

Compared with other species:

The mottled colouring and the light patch on s 7 is unmistakable.
The horn like protrusions on the frons and vertex is very clear to see.
Bradinopyga strachani differs by having a rounded frons without horns, Wings clear rather than narrowly tipped brown. Abdomen ed with maturity, rather than mottled brown.

Distribution:

South Africa

Found in the warm northern and eastern areas of South Africa

Africa

Botswana; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Kenya; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Republic of South Africa; Swaziland; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe