Libellago lineata female 3 by kadavoor

Libellago lineata, River Heliodor, Stream Heliodor, Yellow-lined Gems, is a small black and yellow damselfly with black tipped transparent wing; confined to hill streams and rivers of forested landscapes. Frequently sits in emergent water plants and overhanging bushes. Their preferred home is along the banks of rivers.

The fully adult male has black and yellow markings along the thorax and abdomen. It has more black when fully matured. It also has white markings on the legs. The biggest difference though, is that it develops black marks on the tops of the wings, that make it look really distinctive.

A young male is similar to the adult, but doesn't yet have the black markings on the wings and there is less black on the abdomen.

The female is similar to the sub-adult male, except the abdomen is much more robust. and the markings on the abdomen are slightly different. Eyes of female are brown above grey below. Thorax is similar to male and markings more extensive and dull. Legs are yellow, femora lined extensively with brown. Wings are transparent with amber tint. Wing spots are creamy white; present in all wings. Abdomen is yellow, with black markings. The first segment has a large square spot above. The segments 2-8 have a broad black patch above. This is bisected by a narrow yellow line, which extend to the 9th segment and the last segment is black.

Female lays eggs on partially submerged decaying wood.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India.