Lestes virgatus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Lestes virgatus is a species of damselfly in the family Lestidae, the spreadwings. It is known commonly as the smoky spreadwing. It is native to much of southeastern Africa, where it is widespread. It lives in pools and swamps in forest and woodland habitat.
Lestes virgatus is a damselfly classified in the family Lestidae, known as the spreadwings. The species was first scientifically described by German biologist Hermann Burmeister in 1839 under the name Agrion virgatum. The type specimen was from Durban. Burmeister included a brief physical account of the species, describing a damselfly about 43 mm (1.7 in) long characterized by four bronzey stripes on its pronotum, an abdomen with a coppery-black back. An 1862 publication by odonatologist Edmond de Sélys Longchamps classified the species into the genus Lestes, calling it Lestes virgata; subsequent writers starting with William F. Kirby in 1890 have corrected the gender to Lestes virgatus. The specific epithet is the nominative case of the Latin adjective virgatus, meaning "long and slender" (as a twig or rod, virga) or banded, striped. Despite being sometimes known as the "virginal spreadwing", the species epithet... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Smoky Spreadwing sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 186th most-seen of the 401 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, May–June, August and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Smoky Spreadwing in Durban on a given day, against under 5% in January–February, April, July and September–November, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Smoky Spreadwing sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Durban, in our data
Durban is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Smoky Spreadwing sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Odonata
The closest relatives of the Smoky Spreadwing that you can see in Durban (order Odonata, Dragonflies and Damselflies) are Julia Skimmer (about 30%), Lucia Widow (about 20%) and Red-Veined Dropwing (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Smoky Spreadwing is recorded against all the insects logged in Durban (12 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.
