Dark pincertail  (Onychogomphus assimilis)

Description

This colourful dragonfly belongs to the Gomphidae family, commonly known as ‘clubtail dragonflies’ for the enlarged area at the tip of their abdomen (2). This species displays a rainbow of bright and beautiful colours, from the vivid turquoise blue eyes through to the pale-green body, which becomes increasingly yellow along the abdomen, and eventually ends in a conspicuous orange tip. The pale-green colour of the thorax is set off against contrasting black lines, and the brightly coloured abdomen is also interrupted by black rings of variable size, giving a striking striped appearance. The dark pincertail is a large clubtail, with the abdomen exceeding 40 mm in length (3).

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