About Orthetrum chrysostigma (Burmeister, 1839)
Orthetrum chrysostigma, commonly known as the epaulet skimmer, is a dragonfly species belonging to the family Libellulidae. It has been confirmed present in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Israel, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Canary Islands, and Portugal, and its presence is considered possible in Burundi. This species was first recorded in the Maltese Islands in 2010. Its natural habitats include subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, rivers, intermittent rivers, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and freshwater springs. Adult epaulet skimmers prey on a variety of flying insects. Adult males have blue bodies, while young individuals and females have yellow and brown bodies.
