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FAMILY LIBELLULIDAE
- This page contains information and pictures about Short-tailed Duskdarter Dragonflies that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. They
are also known as Stout Duskdarters.
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- Male, body length 45mm
- We found those Short-tailed Duskdarter Dragonflies on Moolabin Creek in
Brisbane. They are one of the crepuscular species. Unlike most other
dragonflies that are active in sunny day, they are
active only on evening when the sky is about to turn dark. At that time most
other dragonflies and damselflies are at rest and hiding. They fly very
quickly along the creek, chasing with the Australian Emerald,
which are the only other dragonflies remain active at that time. Sometimes
in a dull cloudy day, they can also be seen flying on the waters.
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- We also found them hiding among dense vegetations in bush near Tingalpa Reservoir,
Jan 2009.
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- The Short-tailed Duskdarter Dragonfly is dark brown in colour, with dark colour on
all wing tips. Their eyes are green in colour. They do no look like skimmers
although they are in FAMILY LIBELLULIDAE. Their
abdomen is slender and longer than their wings. They do not perch but like to
hover. We noticed
that their middle ocelli, or the middle simple eye is well develop, this could
help them to fly in dim light condition.
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 - Female
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- The picture above is the female Short-tailed Duskdarter. It is in paler
colour than male. The extreme constriction of segment three is the
characteristic of this dragonfly.
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- We observed that their females lay eggs alone by quickly dipping their
abdomen on the water surface.
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 - Wings of Short-tailed Duskdarter Dragonfly
- Reference:
- 1. The Australian Dragonflies - CSIRO, Watson, Theisinger &
Abbey,1991, p254.
- 2. A
Field Guide to Dragonflies of South East Queensland - Ric Nattrass,
2006, p109.
- 3. The
Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia - CSIRO, Günther
Theischinger and John Hawking, 2006, p290.
- 4. Australian Crepuscular Dragonflies - Deniss Reeves,
Austrolestes-Newsletter of Australian Dragonfly Society, #8, 2003.
- 5. Zyxomma elgneri, Short-tailed Duskdarter - Deniss Reeves,
Austrolestes-Newsletter of Australian Dragonfly Society, #11, 2006.
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