UPDATED CHECKLIST: An Adobe pdf version of the checklist as at December 2018 is available here (click to view/download - approx 10 MB).

View lists of Odonata: Dragonflies and Damselflies by eighth degree grid square

Phaon iridipennis
      Glistening Demoiselle
   Mlawula

View photos in Biodiversity Explorer

Distribution: Eastern Cape Province, then North along the coastal plain, up to 800 m a.s.l. To Central Africa and Madagascar.
Body Length: 69-70 mm
Hind Wing Length: 37-38 mm
Habitat: Among bushes and trees, especially with a tangle of dead twigs at or near swift streams or rivers. Occasionally in deep forest up to 1 km from water.
Flight Period: November to May
Features: Very large, metallic greenish brown with large, rounded glistening wings which have dense and delicate net-like venation and small or absent pterostigmas. Wooded streams East of Drakensberg escarpment.
Comments: Occurrence in Eswatini confirmed by photos by Kate Braun and R B Tate, and by SA damselflies and dragonflies checklist (Durban Natural Science Museum, 2000).

15 records, from 1/17/2013 to 4/18/2019

Information extracted from "Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa" by Michael J Samways, which also includes detailed descriptions of each species.