''Azuragrion granti'', the Socotra bluet or Grant's bluet, is a species of narrow-winged damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is endemic to Socotra in the Indian Ocean. It is a member of the narrow-winged damselfly family Coenagrionidae with its closest relatives originating in Africa, for example '' Azuragrion nigridorsum''.

Description

''Azuragrion granti'' is, typically for narrow-winged dragonflies, a largely blue damselfly with black markings on top of the head, black stripes along the thorax and on the upper part of the abdomen which is paler underneath. It has narrow, transparent wings it holds vertically over their body when it is at rest.

Distribution

Endemic to the island of Socotra, part of Yemen where it occurs mostly in the eastern granitic, mountainous half of the island over an area of 550 km² in the Hagheir Mountains. ''Azuragrion granti'' apparently does not occur the

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

ic western half of Socotra as there are few open freshwater bodies to be found there.

Habitat

The natural habitats of ''Azuragrion granti'' are rivers, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, and ponds. It is threatened by habitat loss although said to be locally abundant. This species breeds in mountain running water. Nothing is known about the biology of this species.

Conservation status

There has been a decline in the quality of the habitat available to ''Azuragrion granti'' due to water extraction and pollution, and this has also been observed in the lowlands where the rapidly developing tourism industry concentrates. As a result, ''Azuragrion granti'' is therefore listed as

near-threatened species A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

. Due to its endemicity and the small range of the species, any future predicted impacts by infrastructure development on Socotra will almost certainly have negative effects.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1318219 Coenagrionidae Endemic fauna of Socotra Insects described in 1903 Taxa named by Robert McLachlan (entomologist) Taxonomy articles created by Polbot