Austrolestes cingulatus (Burmeister, 1839)
METALLIC RINGTAIL
Family Lestidae
A pair of Metallic Ringtails in tandem laying eggs at Deer Vale NSW on October 15th 2013
A male Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale NSW on January 31st 2012
The Metallic Ringtail varies in colour from a deep metallic green to a bronze colour with blue markings. Maybe the colour depends upon the light in which you see them. They are quite common around Deer Vale and can be seen from September until May in some years. It is fairly easy to identify even from a distance as the wings have a brownish tint to them.
Anal appendages of a male Metallic Ringtail
A male Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale NSW on March 3rd 2011
A male Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale NSW on October 28th 2012
A female Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale NSW on March 15th 2012. Notice this female has a notched half-oval marking on segment 2.
The female Metallic Ringtail is similarly coloured and marked to the male. The male has a half oval mark dorsally on abdominal segment 2 which may be notched. Most of the females I have seen have a deeply notched half-oval dorsal marking on the second abdominal segment.
A young female Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale on March 16th 2015.
Notice this female Ringtail seen at Deer Vale on November 12th 2011, which is in tandem with a male Metallic Ringtail, does not have a dorsal half-oval or notched half-oval marking on segment 2 and is probably a Cup Ringtail, Austrolestes psyche.
A female Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale NSW on October 31st 2013.
A male Austrolestes cingulatus eating a damselflyat Deer Vale on February 16th 2012.
Metallic Ringtails prey on other insects such as mayflies but are not averse to making a meal of other species of damselflies.
A male Austrolestes cingulatus eating a mayfly at Deer Vale on October 5th 2013.
This female Metallic Ringtail is unimpressed with the male trying to interrupt her meal! Photo taken at Deer Vale on February 11th 2013.
A pair of Metallic Ringtails egg laying in tandem at Deer Vale, NSW on March 9th 2011.
Face of a male Metallic Ringtail at Deer Vale, NSW on February 27th 2014.
A pair of Metallic Ringtails egg partially submerged and laying in tandem at Deer Vale, NSW on February 26th 2014.