Mountain Malachite

Chlorolestes fasciatus · Order: Odonata · Family: Synlestidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Mountain Malachite
Photo: Alandmanson, CC BY-SA 3.0

It lives beside mountain streams in Lesotho, South Africa and Eswatini.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Males and females look alike, showing a metallic-green body that turns coppery brown with age. The thorax has yellow stripes in front of the wing bases that are narrower than those of the similar Forest Malachite.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Body length ranges from 39 to 54 mm and the wingspan from 49 to 64 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Its natural habitat is montane (mountain) streams.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

Its yellow antehumeral stripes are narrower than those of the similar Forest Malachite.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Mountain Malachite photo 3
Photo: Alandmanson, CC BY-SA
Mountain Malachite photo 4
Photo: Ris, F., Public domain
Mountain Malachite photo 5
Photo: Alandmanson, CC BY-SA
Mountain Malachite photo 6
Photo: Alandmanson, CC BY-SA

Same family (Synlestidae)

Bronze NeedleBronze NeedleSynlestes weyersiiForest MalachiteForest MalachiteChlorolestes tessellatusWhite MalachiteWhite MalachiteChlorolestes umbratusConspicuous MalachiteConspicuous MalachiteChlorolestes conspicuus

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorolestes_fasciatus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

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