Basking Malachite Damselfly

Physical Description

• Has a bright metallic-green body with white, powdery splashes on its head and thorax

• Sits with its wings held open

• In this position, the black and white wing patches are very conspicuous

Body Structure

• Bilaterally Symmetrical• Jointed Exoskeleton• Body Segmented• Single Ventral Nerve Cord

• Head• Thorax • Abdomen

ARTHROPODA

INSECTA

Circulatory System

• Open Circulatory System

• Ectothermic

• 3 Chambers in Heart

Reproduction• Mate in flight

• Male grasps the female at her neck with claspers located at the end of his abdomen so that the two fly in tandem

• Female then curls round her abdomen to take sperm from the male

• Female deposits her eggs on plants that overhang the streams of their habitat

Growth/Development• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezq_JWd1Sd8

Taxonomy• Kingdom: Animalia

• Phylum: Arthropoda

• Class: Insecta

• Order: Odonata- Dragonflies and Damselflies

• Family: Lestoidea

• Genus: Chlorolestes

• Species: Apricans

• Scientific Name: Chlorolestes Apricans

Habitat

• The Basking Malachite Damselfly lives along clear, rocky, shallow streams with long overhanging grasses and bushes.

The Basking Malachite’s main habitat lies among rivers in the Eastern Cape Region of South Africa, where fewer than 1,000 adult species live.

Reasons Why Endangered

• Cattle Farming• Trampling of cattle on riverbanks is destroying

the plants upon which females deposit their eggs

• Detergent from washing clothes in rivers.• Preyed upon by Rainbow Trout.• The last location is not being protected.• No action being taken.

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------- A TREY NEALEY PRODUCTION ;)