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Common Shutwing | Cordulephya pygmaea |
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Cordulephya pygmaea
Image: 480×640, 48KB
Date & Time: 31 January 2007 15:45
Place: Yarra River, Templestowe
Cordulephya pygmaea Head and Thorax
Image: 720×560, 65KB
Date & Time: 11 March 2006 12:50
Place: Yarra River, Wonga Park
Cordulephya pygmaea Size Comparison
Image: 640×376, 22KB
Date & Time: 11 March 2006 12:55
Place: Yarra River, Wonga Park
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These are amongst the smallest dragonflies, measuring only about 3cm long.
Unlike most other dragonflies, they characteristically hold their wings closed above the body when resting,
much like many damselflies do.
They have a black body with yellow stripy patches on the sides of the thorax and yellow rings along the tail,
a mainly dark face with pale olive eyes dissected with a darker line.
Males and females look quite similar.
NSW and Queensland have a handful of other Cordulephya species, which all look similar to this one,
but this is the only one of the group found in Victoria.
They are a late–season species, found from mid summer to mid autumn in Victoria
and even a little later further north.
A reasonably common dragonfly but localized to slow flowing rivers and billabongs,
such as the Yarra near Melbourne.
They readily perch on and parallel to woody vegetation near rivers,
vertically on tree trunks and horizontally on branches.
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Cordulephya pygmaea
Cordulephya pygmaea Head and Thorax
Cordulephya pygmaea Size Comparison