About Ecchlorolestes peringueyi (Ris, 1921)
This large damselfly gets its common name from its dark metallic, cryptic colouration. This colouration acts as perfect camouflage against the mottled, lichen-covered boulders that it habitually sits on. Its body is primarily black, but it has brown markings along its long, slender abdomen, especially at the joints between abdominal segments. The tip of the abdomen has a bluish, slate-grey colour. The marbled malachite is endemic to South Africa, and is only known to occur in protected areas within the Cape Fold Mountains of the Western Cape. Its natural habitat is rivers. It is also found along clear, shallow streams that have an abundance of large, lichen-covered boulders. Two of its populations are located at high elevation sites over 1,000 metres above sea level, while a third population sits at 400 metres above sea level.
