Hydrobasileus brevistylus
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Hydrobasileus brevistylus is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae, known as the water prince. It is found in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. Its natural habitats are freshwater swamps, lakes and ponds. The adult is a large dragonfly (wingspan 100mm, length 55mm) with its head and thorax black and yellow in colour. The abdomen is black with large yellow spots. In Australia, it ranges from the Northern Territory to Queensland and central New South Wales. The taxon has not been assessed in the IUCN Red List.
The genus name Hydrobasileus is derived from the Greek ὕδωρ (hydōr, "water") and βασιλεύς (basileus, "king"). The species name brevistylus is derived from the Latin brevis ("short") and stilus ("a pointed instrument for writing"), referring to the short female appendages, known as styli.
List of Odonata species of Australia Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Water Prince sighting in Kakadu National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 57th most-seen of the 76 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.
April and December
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Water Prince in Kakadu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–March, May, July–August and October, the lowest months. Those are among Kakadu National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain a month against almost none in August.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Water Prince sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Kakadu National Park, in our data
Kakadu National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Water Prince sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Libellulidae
The closest relatives of the Water Prince that you can see in Kakadu National Park (family Libellulidae, Skimmers) are Painted Grasshawk (about 40%), Graphic Flutterer (about 40%) and Common Glider (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Water Prince is recorded against all the insects logged in Kakadu National Park (6 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.
