Eusynthemis nigra xanthosticta

BLACK TIGERTAIL

Family Synthemistidae

A male Black Tigertail variety Xanthosticta at Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve NSW November 14th 2014.

On a very hot summer’s day in December 2014, I followed Middle Creek in the Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve upstream to where a cliff towered over the creek. Here there were some small dragonflies flying about in the shade of the cliff which proved to be Yellow-tipped Tigertails. Close by I spotted a different dragonfly hanging in a tree. It was another dragonfly that I hadn’t seen before and being a female was difficult to identify. Kindly the good folk of the Ausodonata group, identified it as a Black Tigertail

A female Black Tigertail variety Xanthosticta at Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve NSW December 28th 2013.

A male Black Tigertail variety Xanthosticta at Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve NSW November 14th 2014.

Wishing to find this Black Tigertail again I managed another visit to the Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve in November 2014. It was midafternoon and I was hoping it wasn’t too late to see dragonflies. Not far up the creek I came across a small group of smallish dragonflies flying around the tops of bushes and rocks about 3 metres above the creek. Patiently I watched them and hoped one would land. One did but it was a Yellow-tipped Tigertail. I walked further up the creek to where my husband was having a swim in a large rock pool thinking he had probably seen lots of Dragonflies but he hadn’t seen any except a group which he thought must have followed me up the creek! I noticed one land on some grass next to the path in the shade. Unfortunately my flash died so I had to raise the ISO to try and get some sharp shots. It flew away while I was trying to set up my tripod so I didn’t see where it went.
Luckily for me this turned out to be a male Tigertail similar to the female I had seen the year before. It was the only one I managed to see that day.

A female Black Tigertail variety Xanthosticta at Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve NSW December 28th 2013.

A male Black Tigertail at the Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve on December 15th 2014.

A second male Black Tigertail at the Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve on December 15th 2014.

Annal appendages of male Eusynthemis nigra xanthosticta from the Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve November 14th 2014 above left and December 15th 2014 above right.

On December 15th 2014 I visited Middle Creek again and this time saw 2 male Black Tigertails. The shape of segment 9 looks quite different in the male seen in November 2014 to the two males seen in December 2014. In the November specimen segment 9 flared distinctively towards segment 10 but in both the December specimens this segment appeared to be almost parallel sided.

Face of a male Black Tigertail at Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve on December 15th 2014.

A male Black Tigertail at Sherwood Creek Nature Reserve on December 15th 2014.