View the above photo record (by Georg Jacobs) in OdonataMAP here.
Find the Ferruginous Glider in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.
Family Libellulidae
Tramea limbata – FERRUGINOUS GLIDER
(Desjardins, 1832)
Identification
Medium sized
Length up to 52mm; Wingspan up to 94mm.
Most resembles Tramea basilaris (Keyhole Glider). That species is similar in both size and shape but has more extensive and differently shaped markings at the base of the hind wings. Tramea limbata has a deep red rather than orange-red abdomen and a brown face and eyes. Tramea basilaris has a red face with variable amounts of yellow and dark red eyes.
Females closely resemble the males but have broader abdomens and their dark wing panels are rounder and slightly wider.
Click here for more details on identification of the Ferruginous Glider.
Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga
Photo by Gerhard Diedericks
Habitat
The favoured breeding habitat is open, shallow water bodies like pans, lakes, dams and marshes. Prefers ephemeral wetlands. Regularly found in other habitats away from water.
Photo by Ryan Tippett
Behaviour
A powerful, smooth flyer that spends much of its time on the wing. Mostly hunts in bush country away from the water. Periodically perches on the tops of bushes, reeds or trees. Often gregarious. Tramea limbata is nomadic and its movements are erratic and linked to rainfall.
On the wing from November to May
Status and Conservation
Common but Listed as of Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This is a hardy and adaptable species that readily makes use of temporary, degraded and man-made water bodies.
Distribution
Tramea limbata has a very wide distribution. It is erratically distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa and is also found on Madagascar and many of the Indian Ocean islands. Populations additionally occur in parts of the Middle East and Western Asia.
In South Africa the species is most abundant in coastal KwaZulu-Natal but also occurs widely in the Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North-West and Limpopo provinces. The range then extends from KwaZulu-Natal in a broad band along the coast to the Eastern and Western Cape.
Below is a map showing the distribution of records for Ferruginous Glider 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.
Further Resources
Virtual Museum (OdonataMAP > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name)
More common names: Enkelbandswewer (Afrikaans)
Type Locality: Mauritius, no locality data available.
Recommended citation format: Loftie Eaton. M; Hofmeyr S; Tippett RM; Underhill L. Ferruginous Glider Tramea limbata. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at http://thebdi.org/2020/05/12/ferruginous-glider-tramea-limbata/
