Her appearance was so unexpectedly brilliant that when I spotted a 1cm squirt of colour land on the ground an arm’s length away, she seemed more like a momentary flicker of flame. Then she went out and I was in agonies to relocate her.
Even on that briefest view, she was easily among the brightest insects I’ve seen. I also got some of the improbable range: the shimmering emerald, the rich purple thorax, glittering magenta on her abdomen and, at the rear, a cone of deepest, darkest blue. When she finally returned and I could examine her at leisure, I realised that the thorax had the same unlikely tone as ripened lychees, even to the exact dimpled quality of the fruit’s surface.
