Palpopleura portia (Shadow-bridge Widow)
![Seen in Namibia](/res/flag_Namibia_32.png)
The shape of the black markings on the wings gives rise to the vernacular name of this little beauty, resembling the silhouette of an arched bridge.
We saw a single example at the foot of the Waterberg Plateau in Namibia. It posed beautifully for Carol, then moved and posed poorly for me. At least I got to see it, though. 😉
We saw these again in Zambia 2022 where we found a female, too. Females are, apparently, are very tricky to determine; my Namibia book suggests impossible. There are, however, a couple of difficult differential factors mentioned and diagrammed on John Wilkinson’s excellent website. It is still difficult to see on my female specimen, being somewhat obscured by wing, but I THINK that the humeral area suggests a female of P. portia. So, this is where it is shown for now.
Id Notes
- ♂ – the wing markings make this unmistakable
- ♀ – very difficult to distinguish from P. lucia
mature male |
![_17C2012 Shadow-bridge Widow male](/photos/Anisoptera/Palpopleura portia/thumbs/_17C2012%20Shadow-bridge%20Widow%20male.jpg) |
immature male |
![Palpopleura portia male-225250](/photos/Anisoptera/Palpopleura portia/thumbs/Palpopleura%20portia%20male-225250.jpg) |
![Palpopleura portia male-225253](/photos/Anisoptera/Palpopleura portia/thumbs/Palpopleura%20portia%20male-225253.jpg) |
female |
![Palpopleura lucia-portia female-225307](/photos/Anisoptera/Palpopleura portia/thumbs/Palpopleura%20lucia-portia%20female-225307.jpg) |