Rhyothemis semihyalina
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Phantom Flutterer sighting in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 11th most-seen of the 19 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.
January and March
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Phantom Flutterer in Moremi Game Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in February and April–September, the lowest months. Those are among Moremi Game Reserve's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against almost none in May.
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.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Phantom Flutterer sightings, Moremi Game Reserve ranks 5th at about 10%. 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%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Phantom Flutterer is recorded against all the insects logged in Moremi Game Reserve (7 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.
