Ictinogomphus ferox
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Ictinogomphus ferox, commonly called the common tiger or the common tigertail, is a species of dragonfly in the family Gomphidae. It is found in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, possibly Burundi, and possibly Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and freshwater springs. In Algeria, it has also been recorded in the Algerian Sahara, in Tassili n'Ajjer National Park.
Common tigertail Species text in the Online Atlas of South African Odonata Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 3 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Tigertail sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 70 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 29th most-seen of the 316 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and March
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Tigertail in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to September, the lowest months. Those are among iSimangaliso Wetland Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in July.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tigertail sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Tigertail sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park ranks 3rd at about 20%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%) and Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tigertail is recorded against all the insects logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (70 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.
