Orthetrum brachiale (Palisot de Beauvois, 1817)

It's been a while, hasn't it?

To break that streak, then:

Photographed in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia, in December 2013, using Olympus E-420 DSLR with Zuiko 40-150mm lens and 2 KOOD magnifiers.

This delightfully blue dragonfly seems limited to Sub-Saharan Africa, and a few of the associated islands. It apparently hasn't made it across the Sahara, as the IUCN disregards a handful of records from Egypt; these presumably belong to one of several quite similar species.

As a side-note, dragonfly, in Chewa, is Tombolombo; to translate the English name of 'Strong [Skimmer] Dragonfly', we'd go with Mphamvu Tombolombo (possibly not in that order, and spellings of mphamvu vary considerably, with mpamvu being a closer guide to pronunciation in the derived Chi-Nyanja language spoken around Lusaka).

In the more universal Linnaean binomial, this is:

Orthetrum brachiale

(Palisot de beauvois, 1817)

Which further belongs to:

- Libellulinae    

-  Libellulidae     

See also Rhyothemis semihyalina.

- Libelluloidea     

- Anisoptera          

See also Lestinogomphus angustus.

- Epiprocta             

- Odonata                 

See also Enallagma cyathigerum and Pseudagrion hageni.

- Holodonata              

- Odonatoptera             

- Metapterygota             

See also Eremoides bicristatus, Hagenomyia tristis, Dichtha inflata, Oedemera nobilis, Otiorhynchus atroapterus,Malachius bipustulatus , Phyllobius pomaceus, Cheilomenes lunata, Melolontha melolontha, Neojulodis vittipennis, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasinii, Lophyra cf. differens, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes, Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Idolomantis dentifrons, Sibylla pretiosa, Tettigonia viridissima, Stictogryllacris punctata, Enyaliopsis, Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica and Pseudothericles jallae.

- Megoperculata               

- Pterygota                        

- Dicondylia                          

See also Dicranopalpus ramosus.

- Insecta                                
- Hexapoda                              

- Arthropoda                            

See also Ligia oceanica, Dysdera crocata, Phrynarachne rugosa, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi, Pardosa amentata  and Alopecosa barbipes.

- Ecdysozoa                               

- Protostomia                              

See also Burtoa nilotica.

- Nephrozoa                                  

See also Caprimulgus pectoralis, Tockus alboterminatus, Larus argentatus, Sterna hirundo, Burhinus vermiculatus, Troglodytes troglodytes, Megaceryle maxima, Ardea goliath, Chalcophaps indica, Stigmatopelia senegalensis, Lygodactylus capensis, Thelotornis capensis, Zootoca vivipara, Trachylepis varia, Trachylepis striata wahlbergi, Hipposideros vittatus, Syncerus caffer, Rana temporaria, Breviceps poweri, Chiromantis xerampelina and Synchiropus splendidus. 

- Bilateralia                                     

- Eumetazoa                                     

- Animalia                                          

- Eukaryota                                         

There are, as previously noted, a fair few similar blue matombolombo around; the most troubling is usually Orthetrum stemmale, which is perhaps most easily distinguished by the colour of the pterostigma (coloured cell on the leading edge of the wing, near the tip); so far as I can tell, O. stemmale has a very dark brown, almost black pterostigma with a thick black border. In O. brachiale, on the other hand, the pterostigma seems to be pale brown with a thin black border. To put today's guest into this discussion, here's a more inclusive shot: 

 It is worth noting that, with the paucity of literature readily accessible on this subject, a pale brown pterostigma should not necessarily be taken as a clear sign that O. brachiale is the species, but it seems to be a helpful hint.

And that's all, folks!