Austrophlebia costalis

Austrophlebia costalis, the southern giant darner, is a species of dragonfly in the family Telephlebiidae[3] endemic to eastern Australia.[1]

Southern giant darner
Male

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Family: Telephlebiidae
Genus: Austrophlebia
Species:
A. costalis
Binomial name
Austrophlebia costalis
(Tillyard, 1907)[2]

Austrophlebia costalis is an enormous dark dragonfly with strong yellow markings on its body and a brown band along the leading edge of its wings.[4] It inhabits streams and may be found on logs in shady areas.[5]

This species is believed to be one of the fastest flying odonates, with an old reference claiming to have clocked one at nearly 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) but no modern confirmation.[6]

  • Male from below
  • Male head
  • Female wings
  • Male wings

See also

References
  1. Dow, R.A. (2017). "Austrophlebia costalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T163523A14258000. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T163523A14258000.en.
  2. Tillyard, R.J. (1907). "New Australian species of the family Aeschnidae". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 31: 722–730 [724] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. "Species Austrophlebia costalis (Tillyard, 1907)". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  4. Watson, J.A.L.; Theischinger, G.; Abbey, H.M. (1991). The Australian Dragonflies: A Guide to the Identification, Distributions and Habitats of Australian Odonata. Melbourne: CSIRO. ISBN 0643051368.
  5. Theischinger, Günther; Hawking, John (2006). The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia. Collingwood, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p. 136. ISBN 978 0 64309 073 6.
  6. Tillyard, Robert John (1917). The Biology of Dragonflies (PDF). pp. 322–323. Retrieved 15 December 2010. I doubt if any greater speed than this occurs amongst Odonata
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