Agrionoptera insignis allogenes (Tillyard, 1908))
RED SWAMPDRAGON
Family Libellulidae
Red Swampdragons are one of my favourite dragonflies, not only for their brilliant colouring, but also for a curious encounter I had with a couple of them. I was watching a female laying eggs in a swampy pool when this female came up and hovered about a foot in front of me at chest height checking me out. To top that off shortly after she came back with a male and both hovered about a foot in front of me also at chest height – too close to photograph! It was very strange to have 2 dragonflies checking me out at the same time. The female went back to laying eggs close to the edges of the pool. The male mainly perched while the female was laying eggs so I was not sure if he was guarding her or not.
The first Red Swampdragon that I noticed was a female flying around the edge of a small patch of Littoral Rainforest at Red Rock NSW. A couple more female Red Swampdragons were perched at the edge of another patch of rainforest. I have only seen one male here so it seems to be a place that the females hang out.
The beautiful male Red Swampdragon seems to like to hang around swampy pools which dry out in times of low rainfall. I have seen females laying eggs in these pools in autumn. The pools often dry out in winter and spring so I am wondering if the larvae bury themselves to survive the dry periods. I have seen an occasional Red Swampdragon at a couple of more permanent pools but never as many as at the ephemeral pools.
