Palpopleura lucia
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
Palpopleura lucia, the Lucia widow, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Burundi. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and freshwater springs.
Lucia widow Species text in the Online Atlas of South African Odonata Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 3 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 5 | Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Odzala-Kokoua National Park | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 3 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 4 | Cotonou | 🇧🇯 Benin | |
| 5 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 7 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 8 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Lucia Widow sighting in South Luangwa National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 9 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Lucia Widow in South Luangwa National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June and November, the lowest months. That is one of South Luangwa National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 310 mm in January.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lucia Widow sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Lucia Widow sightings, South Luangwa National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%).
Same family: Libellulidae
The closest relatives of the Lucia Widow that you can see in South Luangwa National Park (family Libellulidae, Skimmers) are Southern Banded Groundling (about 40%), Red Basker (about 20%) and Broad Scarlet (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lucia Widow is recorded against all the insects logged in South Luangwa National 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.
