Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Status | Photos | Distribution Maps Length: 29-34mm Wingspan: 35-40mm; Hindwing 14-21mm Male: Dark bronze-black metallic with blue segment 8. Blue or green sides to the thorax and antehumeral stripes. Blue eye spots. Pterostigma is distinctive being bi-coloured black and white. Tips of the lower appendages diverge. Female: Occur in several colour forms dependent on age. Segment 8, though not always blue, is usually clearly different from the other sections. Start as either rufescens with a reddish-pink thorax and blue  segment 8 or violacea with a violet thorax and antehumeral stripes, black humeral stripes and blue segment 8. After around eight days they mature and change colour, rufescens become greenish-brown of the form rufescens-obsoleta. The form violacea mature into two separate from. The first is infuscans which is a pale green colour, and retaining the black humeral stripes. The second is an andromorph form which adopts the same colours as a male. Behavior: Usually stays low down in marginal vegetation, or sheltered well vegetated areas when away from water. Can remain in copulation for up to six hours, making this the most commonly found species in tandem. Female oviposits alone into aquatic vegetation of debris. Less dependent on warm sunny weather, can still be quite active in windy and cool overcast conditions. Habitat: Has a wide habitat preference making it the most widespread species in the county, though not necessarily abundant. Present at still, slow moving and even brackish waters. Can even tolerate pollution to a small degree. An early coloniser of new ponds. Flight Period National: May to mid-September. Yorkshire: May to mid-September. Status Common and widespread throughout the area, though scarcer in the uplands. <Previous Species | Species Index | Next Species>

Web Author: Paul Ashton - ©  Yorkshire Branch of the British Dragonfly Society 2005-2008 including all images unless otherwise stated. http://www.yorkshiredragonflies.org.uk