I had only two very brief encounters with the magnificent Ceriagrion corallinum at two nearby sites. The first was a tiny pond with water lilies in a fairly open area; the second was a pond overgrown with tall vegetation through which it was very difficult to wade, also in an open setting.
It is impossible to confuse it with any other damselfly in Ghana: the green coloration of its thorax is truly rare and striking, especially with its hairless, waxy appearance, contrasting splendidly with its bright red abdomen. Elsewhere in Africa, it is very similar to C. whellani, from which it is distinguished by its green labrum (yellow for C. whellani).
English speakers fittingly call our species the Green-fronted Ceriagrion, while the other goes by the name Yellow-faced Ceriagrion.
Campion specifies that its abdomen measures 26 mm, giving a total length of approximately 33 mm.
It is found across southern West Africa from Senegal, reaching Angola to the south and extending east from Uganda to Zambia. It is rare in our survey area, where the Ceriagrion assemblage is largely dominated by C. glabrum.
IUCN Red List.
I photographed this female Ceriagrion at the exact same small site as the first male. I have no additional proof that it is indeed a female Ceriagrion corallinum, other than the absence of males of other Ceriagrion species—and perhaps a small green patch at the upper part of the wing bases.
Étymologie : Ceriagrion corallinum
Ceriagrion: the genus was erected by Selys in 1876 when he split the large genus Agrion, presumably for the species cerinorubellum. The name combines agrion (frequently used in forming names within Coenagrionidae, derived from the Greek agrios, meaning wild or living in the fields) and the Latin cerinus, meaning wax-colored (or wax-like), referring to the smooth, hairless thorax characteristic of the genus (see Fliedner, 2006).
Corallinum: from the Latin adjective corallinus, meaning coral-like or coral-red, clearly referring to the color of its abdomen.
Campion, 1914. Three new species of Ceriagrion from West Africa. Annals Magazine Natural History Series 8, 14, 277-282. P. 279.
Fliedner, 2006. The scientific names of the Odonata in Burmeister’s « Handbuch der Entomologie ».