Cover photo by Evert Kleynhans.
Find the Assegai Sprite in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.
Family Coenagrionidae
Identification
Linyanti, Botswana
Photo by Ryan Tippett
Small size
Length up to 34mm; Wingspan reaches 42mm.
The Assegai Sprite is most similar to Pseudagrion coeleste (Catshead Sprite) and Africallagma glaucum (Swamp Bluet).
The Assegai Sprite can be differentiated from Pseudagrion coeleste by its smaller and bluer colour. The Assegai Sprite lacks the hints of green on the thorax and eyes of the Catshead Sprite. Most importantly, the two species differ in the shape of the black marking on the second abdominal segment. Pseudagrion assegaii shows a spear or assegai-shaped marking, whereas Pseudagrion coeleste has a marking that resembles the head of a cat.
The Assegai Sprite can be told apart from the Swamp Bluet by being slightly larger and by having large, unconnected postocular spots. They can be further differentiated by the shape of the claspers.
Females are pale greenish and are best told by their association with the males.
Click here for more details on identification.
Linyanti, Botswana
Photo by Ryan Tippett
Habitat
The Assegai Sprite inhabits still-water environments with emergent and floating vegetation such as sedges, grass, and water lilies. It favours the fringes of natural habitats, including lakes, pans, and floodplains. The Assegai Sprite will also utilise slow-moving streams and suitable man-made dams or ponds.
Behaviour
Assegai Sprites perch close to the water on emergent plant stems and are particularly fond of resting on waterlily leaves. They fly short distances when disturbed, usually close to the water surface.
The Assegai Sprite is on the wing from August to March (see Phenology below).
Status and Conservation
The Assegai Sprite is locally common and is listed as of Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Distribution
Pseudagrion assegaii has a very disjunct distribution in Southern and East Africa. It ranges from northern South Africa to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda.
In South Africa the Assegai Sprite is recorded from the Limpopo, Gauteng and North-West provices. It is most numerous in the western parts of Limpopo.
Below is a map showing the distribution of records for Assegai Sprite in the OdonataMAP database as at February 2020.
Below is a map showing the distribution of records for Assegai Sprite 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.
Phenology
Further Resources
The use of photographs by Evert Kleynhans is acknowledged. All other photographs by Ryan Tippett.
Assegai Sprite Pseudagrion assegaii Pinhey, 1950
Other common names: Spearhead Sprite (Alt. English); Assegaaigesie (Afrikaans)
Recommended citation format: Loftie-Eaton M; Navarro R; Tippett RM; Underhill L. 2025. Assegai Sprite Pseudagrion assegaii. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at https://thebdi.org/2020/05/21/assegai-sprite-pseudagrion-assegaii/
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.
