Portia Widow (Palpopleura portia)

Cover photo by Luelle Watts.

Find this species in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.

Family Libellulidae

Identification

Small size

Length up to 31mm; Wingspan attains 47mm.

Both sexes of the Portia Widow resemble Palpopleura lucia (Lucia Widow). Males are readily differentiated from that species by having a pale pruinose blue upper thorax. In addition, males show significantly less black in the wings.

Telling the females of the two species apart is more difficult. Separating the two visually in the field is unreliable; however, Palpopleura portia females generally show less black in the wings and lack the smoky shadow area in the lower part of the hind wings.

Click here for more details on identification.

Habitat

The Portia Widow occupies a wide range of aquatic habitats, but prefers still water environments over flowing waters. It is most common at the grass and sedge fringes of lakes, ponds, pans, and marshes. The Portia Widow is less frequent at rivers and streams, where it prefers the slower-moving stretches and quiet backwaters. Portia Widows can sometimes be found at man-made habitats such as dams and ponds. This species is largely restricted to hot and humid savanna regions.

Behaviour

Portia Widows are perch hunters and spend as much time perched as they do darting off to intercept prey, or to chase off a rival. They like to sit in open, sunny positions, typically with the wings drooped forward in the ‘dropwing’ style.

The Portia Widow is on the wing from October to May, but flies year-round in warmer areas.

Status and Conservation

Palpopleura portia is fairly common in South Africa. It is listed as of Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Portia Widow is a fairly adaptable species that does inhabit degraded or man-made habitats.

Distribution

The Portia Widow is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and is absent only from the driest regions of north-east Africa and the arid and semi-arid parts of Southern Africa.

Below is a map showing the distribution of records for Portia Widow in the OdonataMAP database as at February 2020.

Below is a map showing the distribution of records for Portia Widow in the OdonataMAP database as of December 2024.

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

The use of photographs by Gert Bensch and Luelle Watts is acknowledged. Other photographs by Ryan Tippett.

Portia Widow Palpopleura portia  (Drury, 1773)

Other common names: Shadow-bridge Widow (Alt. English); Portia-weetjie (Afrikaans)

Recommended citation format: Loftie-Eaton M; Navarro R; Tippett RM; Underhill L. 2025. Portia Widow Palpopleura portia . Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at https://thebdi.org/2020/05/11/portia-widow-palpopleura-portia/

References: Tarboton, M; Tarboton, W. (2019). A Guide to the Dragonflies & Damselflies of South Africa. Struik Nature.

Samways, MJ. (2008). Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa. Pensoft

Samways, MJ. (2016). Manual of Freshwater Assessment for South Africa: Dragonfly Biotic Index. Suricata 2. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria

Martens, A; Suhling, F. (2007). Dragonflies and Damselflies of Namibia. Gamsberg Macmillan.

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