Diet

• Protoneura cara is a predatory damselfly. Adults capture small flying insects and other tiny arthropods, usually while patrolling or perching along streams.

• The aquatic larvae are also predators, feeding on small aquatic invertebrates and insect larvae.

Range

• Protoneura cara, the Orange-striped Threadtail, ranges from Texas through Mexico and Central America to Nicaragua. Its type locality is Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico.

• It is recorded from Guerrero and is an appropriate species for the Zihuatanejo area. The species has been specifically documented from tropical Mexican habitats.

Habitat

• This species is strongly associated with small, clear, slow-flowing streams and shallow rivers, particularly where there are sandy bottoms, pools, sluggish backwaters, and overhanging vegetation.

• Adults may perch on thin stems and vegetation beside the water. Males patrol the water surface and may repeatedly move between perches while searching for females.

• Around Zihuatanejo, suitable habitat includes shaded or partly open streams flowing through tropical dry forest, woodland, and scrub.

Description

• Protoneura cara is a slender, medium-sized threadtail, approximately 34–37 mm long, with an exceptionally thin abdomen.

• Males have conspicuous orange to yellow-orange stripes on the thorax, contrasting with dark, metallic areas. The abdomen is very slender and dark, with narrow pale bands on several segments.

• Females resemble males but are somewhat more robust and generally less intensely coloured.

• The combination of the orange-striped thorax, extremely slender dark abdomen and pale abdominal bands makes P. cara distinctive among Mexican threadtails.