Tholymis tillarga
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Tholymis tillarga, the coral-tailed cloudwing, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found from tropical West Africa to Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Common names include old world twister, evening skimmer, crepuscular darter, foggy-winged twister, and twister.
It is a medium sized dragonfly with reddish eyes, yellowish red thorax and coral red abdomen. Its wings are transparent; but hind wings have a golden-brown patch in the base, bordered by a cloudy-white patch. Female is brown and lacks the cloudy-white patch in the hind-wings.
It is a migrant with a permanent presence in humid parts of the tropics. It breeds in standing water-bodies; and prefers weedy ponds, swamps and lakes. They are active at dusk and dawn, as well as during cloudy days. The genus name Tholymis is possibly derived from the Greek θώραξ (thōrax, "thorax" or "chest") and λυγαῖος (lygaios, "shadowy" or "murky"), together with the common dragonfly suffix -themis. The name may refer to the dark-coloured thorax of males of Tholymis citrina.
The derivation of the species name tillarga is unknown. List of odonates... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 4 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 6 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 4 | Vadodara | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Salem | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Kollam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Davao City | 🇵🇭 Philippines | |
| 10 | Lagos | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Twister sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 147th most-seen of the 316 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and December–March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Twister in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and June–November, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Twister sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
6th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Twister sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Ankarafantsika National Park (Madagascar, about 50%), Khao Sok National Park (Thailand, about 10%) and Khao Yai National Park (Thailand, about 10%).
Same family: Libellulidae
The closest relatives of the Twister 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 Twister is recorded against all the insects logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (12 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.
