Platycypha caligata

Platycypha caligata, the dancing jewel, is a species of damselfly in the family Chlorocyphidae. It is found in eastern, central and southern Africa from Ethiopia to Angola and South Africa. Its natural habitats include shady parts of subtropical or tropical streams and rivers in forest, woodland, savanna, and shrubland, and shorelines of lakes.^[1]

• 
  female, Ithala Game Reserve
• 
  Description by Ris (1921)^[2]

Platycypha caligata
Male
teneral male
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Suborder:	Zygoptera
Family:	Chlorocyphidae
Genus:	Platycypha
Species:	P. caligata
Binomial name
Platycypha caligata (Selys, 1853)
Synonyms
Libellago caligata Selys, 1853

Males perform remarkable territorial and courtship displays which include flashing and vibrating (foot waggling) their brightly colored legs with flattened tibiae and waving their abdomens.^[3][4][5] Experimentally varying tibial colours showed functions of anterior and posterior tibial colours to be distinct. The white anterior colouration was vital during courtship to attract mates and achieve tandem formation. Similarly, the red colouration on the posterior of the tibia was necessary for territorial signalling to other males.^[6]