Rhyothemis semihyalina
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
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 |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Phantom Flutterer sighting in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 59 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and November
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Phantom Flutterer in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March and May–September, the lowest months. Those are among uMkhuze Game Reserve's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in July.
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.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Phantom Flutterer sightings, uMkhuze Game Reserve ranks 3rd at about 20%. The best odds are in Ankarafantsika National Park (Madagascar, about 40%) and Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 20%).
Same family: Libellulidae
The closest relatives of the Phantom Flutterer that you can see in uMkhuze Game Reserve (family Libellulidae, Skimmers) are Southern Banded Groundling (about 50%), Broad Scarlet (about 40%) and Lucia Widow (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Phantom Flutterer is recorded against all the insects logged in uMkhuze Game Reserve (10 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.
