Photo credit: Michael Samways
The Ceres Streamjack, Metacnemis angusta, is classified as ‘VULNERABLE’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. It is a tiny damselfly that was first discovered in 1920, but was not seen again until it was rediscovered in 2003 in a pool adjacent to a river in the Cape Fold Mountains of South Africa. It is also commonly known as Ceres Featherlegs. Males are purple in colour and females are bright blue.
This species of damselfly is particularly at risk since it is only known to exist at one small pool, 50 m by 5 m in size. Despite intensive searches, the Ceres Streamjack has not been found elsewhere. This is partly due to the scarcity of its habitat within the region, and also because of invasive alien trees which threaten this damselfly by shading out its habitat.
Conservation measures have involved removal of invasive alien trees, but there is always a risk that they will regrow. An additional concern is that the only known locality is adjacent to a road where there is a risk from increased traffic emissions.
Geographic Range of the Ceres Streamjack
Credit: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™
To learn more about the Ceres Streamjack, click here. Or visit the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ by clicking their logo below.
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