About Copera marginipes (Rambur, 1842)
Copera marginipes is a medium-sized damselfly. It has brown-capped yellow eyes, with a narrow equatorial black band encircling the eyes. Its thorax is black on the dorsum, with a yellow mid-dorsal carina and a narrow greenish-yellow humeral stripe that is split in two and overlapping. This stripe is followed by a broad black fascia on the middle of the lateral side of the thorax, which is peppered with small pale yellow spots. The lateral sides beyond this fascia are yellow, marked with an irregular black stripe on the anterior border of the postero-lateral suture, and another irregular black stripe on the middle portion of the metepimeron. The abdomen is black on the dorsal half from the base up to segment 8, and paler on the ventral half, with bluish-white basal annules. Segment 9 is bluish-white on the dorsal half and black below that area. Segment 10 is entirely bluish-white. The anal appendages range from pale yellow to white; the inferior appendages are tipped with black. The superior appendages are half the length of segment 10, and the inferior appendages are at least four times the length of the superior appendages. This differs from the related species Copera vittata, where the superior appendages are as long as segment 10, and the inferior appendages are nearly twice the length of the superior appendages. In Copera marginipes, the inferior appendages are pale on the inside and blackish-brown on the outside. Females of this species are more robust than males, have duller coloration, and their markings are less conspicuously defined. Tenerals of both sexes can be almost entirely white, with only a few black markings. This damselfly is commonly found among undergrowth along the banks of rivers and streams, most often in lowland areas.
