Appearance
SizeMale: Abdomen: 16-18 mm, Hind wing: 25mm. Female: Abdomen: 18mm, Hind wing: 26mm
Male: Face: Velvety black. Eyes: Black above, bluish grey below. Thorax: Glossy black with a dorsal triangular light pink spot. This is bordered laterally by short and broad azure blue stripes. Lateral sides have azure blue stripes, which extends beneath. Underside has 2-4 yellow spots. Legs: Black, terminal segments of two posterior pair of legs pruinosed white. Wings: Basal half of the hind wing transparent with deep amber tint, remaining area opaque black with two series of iridescent spots. Opaque black area is restricted to apical part of the forewing leaving a transparent bluish-green reflecting area towards the boarder. Wing spot: Black. Abdomen: Glossy black with triangular bright azure blue spot on each side.
Female: Markings similar to male, but yellow instead of azure blue. Wings are transparent with uniform greenish yellow and blackish brown wing spot.
Naming
Synonyms:Heliocypha perforata Percheron, 1835
Rhinocypha maculata Matsumura, 1931
Rhinocypha quatuordecimmaculata Oguma, 1913
Rhinocypha whiteheadi Kirby, 1900
Rhinocypha yunnanensis Zhou & Zhou, 2004
Subspecies:
R. p. perforata - in China from Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and Yunnan (Hua 2000) and from Hong Kong (Wilson 2004) and Taiwan (Lieftinck et al. 1984), Laos and Viet Nam (Tsuda 2000)
R. p. beautifica - the Naga Hills in India
R. p. limbata - Yunnan (China), India, Laos (Tsuda 2000), Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia (Orr 2005) and Thailand (Hämäläinen and Pinratana 1999)
Distribution
China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan); Hong Kong; India; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia); Myanmar (Myanmar (mainland)); Taiwan, Province of China; Thailand; Viet NamStatus
Rhinocypha perforata is a common species throughout its wide range. It is not believed to be threatened at present and therefore is assessed as Least Concern.Habitat
The Common Blue Jewel frequents swift flowing streams and rivers in low hills and mountains.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/164789/0Subramanian. K.A. (2009). Dragonflies of India-A field guide. Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. 168pp.
