Cordulephya pygmaea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In late march dragonflies become harder to find. So on a trip to Platypus Flat in the Nymboi-Binderay National Park, I was not overly confident of finding anything interesting. A young black snake slithered out of my way as I walked along the edge of the river towards a part where there were several emergent rocks. Happy day! There was a tiny dragonfly hunting and using a rock very close to the edge of the river as its perching place. To my delight it was a Shutwing dragonfly which is a curiousity in that it holds its wings over its back at rest as most damselflies do. As far as I have been able to find out, Australia is the only place where you can find these dragonflies that hold their wings like this.

This little Shutwing is a Common Shutwing. Now I just have to find a Mountain Shutwing – Cordulephya montana – the only other member of the Cordulephyidae which can be found in NE NSW.

These odd dragonflies from the genus Cordulephya are only found in Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In march 2016 a friend and I visited Wollomombi falls near Armidale in NSW, and to our delight saw a number of Common Shutwings there on logs along the path to the river and a couple on rocks at the river. One of the specimens I saw at the river was a female. It was laying eggs in some shallow water so quickly that my photographs of it were all blurry.