I had stumbled upon this tiny damselfly quite unexpectedly while exploring along a forest stream early in the year. The truth is that I would have missed it if I hadn't caught that tiny flicker of movement among the leaf litter on the ground.
This is the Copera vittata of the family Platycnemididae. The male has hindwing length of 16mm and it is a very slender and dainty damselfly. The above photo shows a female damselfly of this species. It really is tiny and its size and colour makes it blend very well into its surroundings making it almost invisible, like a ghost damselfly!
As I walked further along on the trail, I came across another damselfly of the same species but this time it was an immature damselfly and this was a short distance away from the stream.
As you can see, this immature damselfly has a pale ivory colouring, known as 'ghost' form, according to the Pocket Guide. Again, it was actually quite inconspicuous among the twigs and leaf litter. I had barely managed to get two shots and it disappeared from view.
So I went back to the trail again several days later to look this immature damselfly.
In just three days, it had developed some maturity, lost the pale ivory colouring and its legs are now a deeper yellow. According to the Pocket Guide, the adult males would have legs of orange red colour.
Again, just two good shots before it flittered its wings and, like an apparition, disappeared into the forest!
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