The blue-tailed damselfly or common bluetail (''Ischnura elegans'') is a

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

, belonging to the family

Coenagrionidae The insect family Coenagrionidae is placed in the order Odonata and the suborder Zygoptera. The Zygoptera are the damselflies, which although less known than the dragonflies, are no less common. More than 1,300 species are in this family, making i ...

Subspecies and varieties

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

and varieties include: *''Ischnura elegans ebneri'' Schmidt, 1938 *''Ischnura elegans elegans'' (Vander Linden, 1820) *''Ischnura elegans pontica'' Schmidt, 1939 *''Ischnura elegans f. infuscans'' *''Ischnura elegans f. infuscans-obsoleta'' *''Ischnura elegans f. rufescens'' *''Ischnura elegans f. typica'' *''Ischnura elegans f. violacea''

Distribution

This species is present in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the middle-east. It is a common species.

Habitat

These damselflies can be found in a wide range of lowland environments, with standing and slow flowing waters, brackish and polluted water.

Description

''Ischnura elegans'' can reach a body length of and a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

of about . Hindwings reach alength of .L. Watson and M. J. Dallwit
British Insects: the Odonata (Dragonflies and Damselflies
/ref> Adult male blue-tailed damselflies have a head and thorax patterned with blue and black. There is a bi-coloured pterostigma on the front wings. Eyes are blue. They have a largely black abdomen with very narrow pale markings where each segment joins the next. Segment eight, however, is entirely pale blue.BDS - British Dragonfly Society
/ref> At rest, the wings of most damselfly species are held back together, unlike dragonflies, which rest with their wings out flat. The thorax of juvenile males has a green tinge. Female blue-tailed Damselflies come in a variety of colour forms. Juveniles may be salmon pink, form ''rufescens''; violet, form ''violacea'' and a pale green form. The colour darkens as the damselfly ages. Mature females may be blue like the male, form ''typica''; olive green thorax and brown spot, form ''infuscans'' or pale brown thorax and brown spot, form ''infusca-obseleta''.

Biology and behavior

Adults fly from April to September to early October. The adult damselflies prey on small flying insects, caught using their legs like a basket to scoop the prey up while flying, or insects taken from leaves. Damselfly nymphs are aquatic, and prey on small aquatic insects or other aquatic larvae. A male can try to interfere with a mating pair, by attaching itself to the mating male. The females always lay their eggs on the floating parts of the plants without any involvement of the male. Blue-tailed Damselflies are superb fliers and can alter each of their four wing's

kinematics Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the Motion (physics), motion of points, Physical object, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause ...

in order to maneuver. A recent study has shown that they can compensate for a whole wing loss and even successfully maneuver and catch prey.

Gallery

File:Blue-tailed damselflies (Ischnura elegans) mating, female typica 2.jpg, Mating, female f. ''typica'' File:Blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) nymph.jpg, nymph File:Ischnura elegans emerging.jpg, emerging File:Blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) immature male.jpg, Immature male Blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) teneral female rufescens.jpg, teneral female form ''rufescens'' File:Blue-tailed damselfy (Ischnura elegans) female rufescens.jpg, Female form ''rufescens'' File:Blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) female violacea 2.jpg, Female form ''violacea'' File: Blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) female rufescens-obsoleta 2.jpg, Female form ''rufescens-obsoleta''

References

External links

* * Ischnura Damselflies of Europe Insects described in 1820 Taxa named by Pierre Léonard Vander Linden Articles containing video clips {{Coenagrionidae-stub