Platycypha caligata
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Platycypha caligata, the dancing jewel, is a species of damselfly in the family Chlorocyphidae. It is found in eastern, central and southern Africa from Ethiopia to Angola and South Africa. Its natural habitats include shady parts of subtropical or tropical streams and rivers in forest, woodland, savanna, and shrubland, and shorelines of lakes.
Males perform remarkable territorial and courtship displays which include flashing and vibrating (foot waggling) their brightly colored legs with flattened tibiae and waving their abdomens. Experimentally varying tibial colours showed functions of anterior and posterior tibial colours to be distinct. The white anterior colouration was vital during courtship to attract mates and achieve tandem formation. Similarly, the red colouration on the posterior of the tibia was necessary for territorial signalling to other males.
Media related to Platycypha caligata at Wikimedia Commons Platycypha caligata on African Dragonflies and Damselflies Online Dancing jewel Species text in the Online Atlas of South African Odonata Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dancing Jewel sighting in Nairobi on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 44th most-seen of the 123 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, July–August and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Dancing Jewel in Nairobi on a given day, against under 5% in February, April–May, October and December, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dancing Jewel sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Nairobi, in our data
Nairobi is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Dancing Jewel sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Odonata
The closest relatives of the Dancing Jewel that you can see in Nairobi (order Odonata, Dragonflies and Damselflies) are Lucia Widow (about 10%), Blue Emperor (about 10%) and Orange-Winged Dropwing (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dancing Jewel is recorded against all the insects logged in Nairobi (11 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.
