Austroargiolestes christine (Theischinger and O’Farrell, 1986)

MILKY FLATWING

Family Megapodagrionidae

Face of a female Milky Flatwing at Deer Vale NSW on November 27th 2013.

A male Milky Flatwing at Deer Vale NSW on November 8th 2014.

A male Milky Flatwing at Deer Vale NSW on November 27th 2013.

Austroargiolestes christine like Austroargiolestes alpinus is another uncommon damselfly found around Deer Vale NSW. My first sighting in October 2011, was of a male which had landed on some grass just down the hill from our house and was not close to any water. It was a teneral which I presume had moved away from its hatching site to mature.

The Milky Flatwing superficially looks like the Common Flatwing (Austroargiolestes icteromelas) especially the very young ones that have not yet developed the milky pruinescence which must give them their common name. Even though the damselfly photos here are taken from slightly different angles, you can see that the point of the posterior lateral thoracic marking (indicated by a red arrow) is much less acute on the Milky Flatwing than the Common Flatwing. The bottom lateral markings differ as well but it is difficult to take photos that show them well.

A Common Flatwing from Red Rock with thoracic markings accentuated.

A Milky Flatwing from Deer Vale with thoracic markings accentuated.

A female Milky Flatwing at Deer Vale NSW on October 28th 2014.

In the spring of 2013 I walked along a tributary of the Deer Park Creek to search for Milky Flatwings. I managed to spot 10 of which 9 were females. This is when I realized that most of the Milky Flatwings I had ever seen were females. I think this is odd as it is more usual to see more males than females especially near water.

A female Milky Flatwing at Deervale NSW on November 27th 2013.

A female Milky Flatwing at Deer Vale NSW on November 27th 2013.

An old female Milky Flatwing at Deer Vale NSW on November 27th 2013.

A female Milky Flatwing laying eggs in a creek bank at Deervale NSW on November 27th 2013.

The Milky Flatwings around Deer Vale seem to favour small creeks which are mostly enclosed with shrubs. They often sun themselves on dead wood in small sunny openings along the creek. On November 27th 2013, in one such opening, I came across 2 females. These females had quite dark thoracic markings and one had a scar on segment 4 of her abdomen. I sat down to watch when another female with white markings arrived. One of the older females flew onto the vertical bank of the creek and started laying eggs into the dirt. Shortly after, a 4th Milky Flatwing arrived - a male this time - but he only stayed about 8 minutes before flying off.

On December 6th 2013, I returned to the same spot and was fortunate to see 2 females laying eggs. One into dirt as before and the other into a piece of dead wood which had its end in the water.

A female Milky Flatwing with a scar on her abdomen laying eggs in a creek bank at Deer Vale NSW on November 27th 2013.

A female Milky Flatwing laying eggs in an old piece of wood in a creek bank at Deer Vale NSW on December 6th 2013.

Two views of a female Milky Flatwing waving her abdomen up and down at Deer Vale NSW on November 27th 2013.

This Female Milky Flatwing was at the edge of a dam waving its abdomen up and down. I am not sure why it was doing this as I could not see any other Milky Flatwings around that it could have been signalling to. Perhaps it was just having a stretch.