Common citril
The common citril is a slim damselfly. The male is bright orange all over, like a glowing orange stick with wings. It sits low among reeds and grasses next to the water.
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Fun facts
It is the most common orange damselfly in Africa and lives in more than 40 countries.
Females can be brown, green or orange, and they get more orange as they grow older.
Its eyes are greenish with a dark grey cap on top.
It is not a strong flyer and only makes short, weak flights.
It happily moves into ponds that people dig, like farm dams.
Most asked questions about Common citril
?What does the common citril eat?
Small insects, and sometimes smaller damselflies, especially young ones with soft bodies.
?How big is the common citril?
It is up to about 46 millimetres long, and its wings span up to 53 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ceriagrion glabrum
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Coenagrionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Coenagrionidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Common orange, Common pond damsel, Common waxtail, Orange waxtail
Where the facts come from
- Ceriagrion glabrum (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 Charles J. Sharp. 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.
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