Rhyothemis semihyalina
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Rhyothemis semihyalina, the Phantom Flutterer, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Réunion, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, and intermittent freshwater marshes.
Phantom flutterer Species text in the Online Atlas of South African Odonata Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 3 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 6 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Phantom Flutterer sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 47 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 40th most-seen of the 316 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Phantom Flutterer in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Phantom Flutterer sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Phantom Flutterer sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Ankarafantsika National Park (Madagascar, about 40%), Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 20%) and uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 20%).
Same family: Libellulidae
The closest relatives of the Phantom Flutterer that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (family Libellulidae, Skimmers) are Lucia Widow (about 30%), Violet Dropwing (about 30%) and Southern Banded Groundling (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Phantom Flutterer is recorded against all the insects logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (47 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
