Lucia Widow

Lucia Widow

Palpopleura lucia

Daily sighting probability ~30% · Possible
at Dar es-Salaam

In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%

9 Verified sightings at Dar es-Salaam
549 In all 8 parks From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Lucia Widow

Palpopleura lucia, the Lucia widow, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and freshwater springs.

Lucia widow Species text in the Online Atlas of South African Odonata Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 uMkhuze Game Reserve 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
2 South Luangwa National Park 🇿🇲 Zambia
~30%
3 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~30%
4 Gonarezhou National Park 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
~30%
5 Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
6 Kruger National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
7 Kibale National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
8 Odzala-Kokoua National Park 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo
~20%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kigali 🇷🇼 Rwanda
~40%
2 Abidjan 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire
~40%
3 Ouagadougou 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
~40%
4 Cotonou 🇧🇯 Benin
~30%
5 Dar es-Salaam 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~30%
6 Accra 🇬🇭 Ghana
~30%
7 Kampala 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
8 Durban 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
9 Nairobi 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Lucia Widow in Dar es-Salaam?

Possible

About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Lucia Widow sighting in Dar es-Salaam on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 6th most-seen of the 12 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Lucia Widow in Dar es-Salaam?

February, April, June and August

In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Lucia Widow in Dar es-Salaam on a given day, against under 5% in March, May and November–January, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Lucia Widow?

Between 11 am and 2 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lucia Widow sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Dar es-Salaam the best place to see a Lucia Widow?

5th of 9

Of the 9 cities where we can rate Lucia Widow sightings, Dar es-Salaam ranks 5th at about 30%. The best odds are in Kigali (Rwanda, about 40%), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire, about 40%) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 40%).

Where does the Lucia Widow sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Lucia Widow is recorded against all the insects logged in Dar es-Salaam (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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