''Zosteraeschna minuscula'', the friendly hawker is a species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

in family

Aeshnidae The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North America and Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its o ...

. It is found in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s include ponds and still pools in montane streams. This is a fairly large species; 59–62 mm long with a wingspan of 76–83 mm. The thorax is brown with green stripes, and the abdomen is brown and blue. The eyes are green. It is similar to '' Pinheyschna subpupillata'' and ''

Zosteraeschna usambarica ''Zosteraeschna'' is the scientific name of a genus of dragonflies from the family Aeshnidae The Aeshnidae, also called aeshnids, hawkers, or darners, is a family of dragonflies. The family includes the largest dragonflies found in North Ame ...

'', but has an anchor- or T-shaped mark on the

frons Insect morphology is the study and description of the physical form of insects. The terminology used to describe insects is similar to that used for other arthropods due to their shared evolutionary history. Three physical features separate insec ...

. Males have a blue saddle on the abdomen near the thorax, and females and

teneral Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticle in many invertebrates of the clade Ecdysozoa. Since the cuticle of these animals typically forms a largely inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed. The remna ...

s have an amber wash on the wings. Z_minuscula_AManson_012462-1.jpg, Male Z_minuscula_AManson_006833-2.jpg, Male in flight Z_minuscula_AManson_004268-1.jpg, Female Z_minuscula_AManson_012534-2.jpg, Female Z_minuscula_AManson_009079-1.jpg, Teneral female Z_minuscula_AManson_012534-1.jpg, Female ovipositing Z_minuscula_AManson_012534-3.jpg, Female ovipositing

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9392033 Aeshnidae Insects of South Africa Insects described in 1893