Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Dragonflies and damselflies
Sticker of Painted grasshawk
Bug card No. 3211 of 4,939

Painted grasshawk

Neurothemis stigmatizans
Name means: “marked with a spot, after the colourful patches on its wings”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The painted grasshawk is a dragonfly that looks like someone painted its wings. The male has big reddish brown patches on his wings, and the female is pale greenish yellow with dark wing tips. It zooms around still water in northern Australia.

Lives in
Northern Australia, at still water near grassy places
Wingspan
6 to 8.5 cm (2.4 to 3.3 in)
Top speed
about 48 km/h (30 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Dragonflies do not sting and it is no danger to people.
What does it eat?
Like all dragonflies, it catches small flying insects in the air. Its young live in the water and hunt there.
For real!Photo of Painted grasshawk
Picture by G. Winterflood. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Painted grasshawk wings about 8.5 cm tip to tip (3.3 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 2.5 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 7.9 seconds

How big is Painted grasshawk compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The male's body is reddish brown with a lighter stripe down the middle of the back.

2

The female's wings are mostly see-through, with a dark smudge and dark tips.

3

Both males and females have a little pink or pale spot near the tip of each wing.

4

Its genus name joins the Greek word for vein with Themis, the Greek goddess of justice.

you asked

Most asked questions about Painted grasshawk

?How big is the painted grasshawk?

It is a medium sized dragonfly with wings about 60 to 85 millimetres across.

?Where does the painted grasshawk live?

In northern Australia, from Queensland across to Broome in Western Australia, near still water.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Neurothemis stigmatizans
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Libellulidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Neurothemis stigmatizans (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by G. Winterflood. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip

More from the same group: Dragonflies and damselflies

Emperor dragonflyDragonflies and damselfliesCommon whitetailDragonflies and damselfliesGreen darnerDragonflies and damselfliesEbony jewelwingDragonflies and damselfliesGlobe skimmerDragonflies and damselfliesBlue dasherDragonflies and damselflies

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

Littoral tiger beetleBeetlesOblique-lined tiger beetleBeetlesWaterlily leafcutter mothMothsYellow spotted sedgeOther insectsStripe-winged drone flyFlies and mosquitoesWater-meadow grasshopperGrasshoppers and crickets
Honey jarfor grown-ups