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Bronze Needle | Synlestes weyersii |
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Synlestes weyersii Head and Thorax
Image: 576×576, 43KB
Date & Time: 29 November 2006 15:20
Place: Warrandyte State Park
Metallic Face of Synlestes weyersii
Image: 640×480, 31KB
Date & Time: 15 March 2005 13:55
Place: Yarra Ranges National Park, McMahons Creek
Female Synlestes weyersii with Open Wings
Image: 768×576, 66KB
Date & Time: 20 November 2005 13:15
Place: Belgrave South
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These are large, slender and distinctive damselflies, usually predominantly a metallic green
and often with red-brown and yellowish stripes on the thorax.
Eyes are pale to dark upper and pale lower.
Males and females are similarly marked.
Like most damselflies, it is not an active flyer.
Readily rest with wings open flat or closed above the body.
Common around rivers and streams where they often hang vertically from vegetation.
Known from low altitudes to at least 1200m with suitable habitat.
Three subspecies are currently recognized, which can be separated by their striped thorax patterns.
Synlestes weyersii weyersii is only known from near Melbourne and has the widest pale stripes
on the upper sides of the thorax,
S. w. tillyardi ranges from south-eastern Queensland through to southern Victoria and
has a small or missing pale stripe
and S. w. nigrescens has at most an insignificant pale stripe.
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Synlestes weyersii Head and Thorax
Metallic Face of Synlestes weyersii
Female Synlestes weyersii with Open Wings