View the above photo record (by Neels Jackson) in OdonataMAP here.
Find the Swamp Bluet in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.
Family Coenagrionidae
Africallagma glaucum – SWAMP BLUET
Identification
Very Small
Length up to 31mm; Wingspan attains 40mm.
Most resembles Africallagma fractum (Slender Bluet), but is smaller and less elongate. Africallagma fractum also differs in having large, round postocular spots and a unique keyhole shaped marking at the top of the abdomen on segment 7.
Click here for more details on identification.
Near Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal
Photo by Ryan Tippett
Habitat
Inhabits marshes, seeps and the fringes of ponds, lakes, dams and slow moving rivers or streams. Favours still water environments with fringing and emergent grass, sedge or reeds.
Photo by Sharon Stanton
Behaviour
Fairly conspicuous despite its small size. Perches on plant stems close to the water and is often gregarious.
Most active from September to May, but flies year round in some places. See Phenology below.
Status and Conservation
Very common. The most frequently recorded Bluet in the region. Listed as of Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Species. Able to utilise man-made waterholes and animal watering points which has allowed it spread into arid areas.
Distribution
Occurs widely in Southern, central and East Africa.
Found virtually throughout South Africa, including arid areas.
Below is a map showing the distribution of records for Swamp Bluet in the OdonataMAP database as at February 2020.
The next map below is an imputed map, produced by an interpolation algorithm, which attempts to generate a full distribution map from the partial information in the map above. This map will be improved by the submission of records to the OdonataMAP section of the Virtual Museum.
Ultimately, we will produce a series of maps for all the odonata species in the region. The current algorithm is a new algorithm. The objective is mainly to produce “smoothed” maps that could go into a field guide for odonata. This basic version of the algorithm (as mapped above) does not make use of “explanatory variables” (e.g. altitude, terrain roughness, presence of freshwater — we will be producing maps that take these variables into account soon). Currently, it only makes use of the OdonataMAP records for the species being mapped, as well as all the other records of all other species. The basic maps are “optimistic” and will generally show ranges to be larger than what they probably are.
These maps use the data in the OdonataMAP section of the Virtual Museum, and also the database assembled by the previous JRS funded project, which was led by Professor Michael Samways and Dr KD Dijkstra.
Phenology
