[6][7] It is very small with a long, metallic-green body and clear wings.

The ancient greenling has been recorded from a small number of scattered sites, including on King Island and in Mount William, Tasmania; in Wilsons Promontory National Park and near Yea, Victoria; and in Piccaninnie Ponds Conservation Park in south-eastern South Australia.

Its recorded habitat includes permanent freshwater ponds, riverine lagoons and swamps that may dry out seasonally.

[1] A favoured site discovered in 2008, Long Swamp in the Discovery Bay Coastal Park of south-western Victoria, contains extensive areas of twig-rush (Baumea sp.)

which is seasonally flooded but dries out by late summer[8][5] The greenling's conservation status was raised from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2008 because of the limited area of habitat occupied, as well as the small and scattered character of the populations, at least some of which were in decline.