In males, the hindwing is 34 to 37 mm in length and the total body length ranges from 44 to 47 mm. The male is easily recognised by its narrow, straight-sided abdomen, which is entirely red, except for the last two segments which are black. The thorax is dark brown with yellow stripes, especially on the sides. Older specimens may develop pruinesence on the thorax. The young male is quite different to that of the male. Its thorax isn't pruinosed allowing you to see the thoracic markings clearly and their abdomen is more of an orange colour not blood red. Also, the coloured wings tips are more obvious. This Species easily confused with Potamarcha congener and Agrionoptera insignis.

The female has a brownish red abdomen, which is thicker than that of the male. There is a yellow line running over the thorax through the abdomen and gradually narrowed into a line toward the tip. The female is much paler than the male (more like the young male) and is easily mistaken for the extremely common Potomarcha congener. The markings on the thorax, however, are different and the thorax is more of an orange colour. It doesn't have large caudal appendages like P. congener either.

This species breeds in ponds, marshes, swamp forest and shallow forest pools. It has been found in Kalimantan on small pools in oil palm plantations where agrochemicals are heavily used, so it is tolerant of disturbance and pollution. They are quite shy and fly away with the slightest of movement.

Subspecies:
      Lathrecista asiatica asiatica 
      Lathrecista asiatica pectoralis (Kaup in Brauer, 1867).

This species is very widespread, occurring from India to Viet Nam and south to New Guinea and Australia. It is assessed by IUCN Red List as Least Concern.