''Sinolestes'' is a genus of

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

in the family

Synlestidae The Synlestidae are a family of damselflies commonly known as sylphs or malachites.

. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, the sole species being ''Sinolestes editus''. It is found in southeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi provinces),

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and probably northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Description

The

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

measures in males and in females. Male has deep metallic green body with pale-yellow markings. The head is posteriorly yellow. They eyes are pale-green. The

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

is laterally yellow. The anterior side of the

synthorax The thorax is the midsection ( tagma) of the hexapod body (insects and entognathans). It holds the head, legs, wings and abdomen. It is also called mesosoma or cephalothorax in other arthropods. It is formed by the prothorax, mesothorax and met ...

has broad longitudinal humeral stripe; the lateral side of synthorax has yellow metepisternum and metepimeron. The wings are transparent or with dark cross-bands of different widths (specimens with different wing types were originally considered to represent distinct species, but are now regarded as intraspecific variation). The

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer insect wing, wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonfly, dragonfli ...

is yellowish-brown, darkening with age and ultimately becoming totally black. The legs are black. The abdomen is dark with some yellow lateral markings. Female is similar to male but the yellow abdominal markings are more developed and the pterostigma remains pale yellowish-brown when mature.

Habitat

In Taiwan, ''Sinolestes editus'' occurs near small puddles in semi-shaded brooks in mountain forests at about

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. In China, the altitudinal range is .

Ecology and behaviour

Males guard their breeding sites, perching on branches or tall grasses around small puddles. The eggs are laid inside the stems of '' Polygonum chinense'' and '' Hydrangea angustipetala'' some 1–2 meters above the puddle.

Description

Habitat

Ecology and behaviour

References

Further reading