Whitewater rockmaster
Diphlebia lestoides
Name means: “double vein, looking like a robber”
The whitewater rockmaster is a big, strong-looking damselfly from Australia. The male is blue to grey with black markings, and the female has softer colours. It likes to sit with its wings spread wide open, and the wings have white marks.
Lives in
South-eastern Australia, by streams and rivers
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Damselflies have no sting and do not hurt people.
What does it eat?
Like other damselflies, it catches small insects. Its young live in the water and hunt tiny water animals.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Whitewater rockmaster about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It lives only in south-eastern Australia and nowhere else in the world.
2
Its first scientific name, Diphlebia, means double vein. It probably points to the special pattern of veins in its wings.
3
Most damselflies fold their wings when they rest, but this one keeps them spread out.
you asked
Most asked questions about Whitewater rockmaster
?Where does the whitewater rockmaster live?
Only in south-eastern Australia, by streams and rivers.
?Is the whitewater rockmaster dangerous?
No. Damselflies have no sting and are harmless.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Diphlebia lestoides
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Lestoideidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Lestoideidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Diphlebia lestoides (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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