The small red damselfly (''Ceriagrion tenellum'') is a small

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 ...

flying in

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s and

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

s. It is in 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 ...

Identification

''Ceriagrion tenellum'' is only long. It is a lot shorter than the

large red damselfly The large red damselfly (''Pyrrhosoma nymphula'') is a species of damselflies belonging to the family Coenagrionidae. It is native to the western Palearctic. Distribution This species is a mainly European damselfly, with some populations in Nor ...

, with which it is sometimes confused. In both sexes the

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

is bronze-black on top. The male has an entirely red

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

. The female has a bronze-black abdomen with only the front and back of it red. The dark

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...

''melanogastrum'' has an almost entirely dark abdomen marked with pale segment divisors, the last two of which are reddish. A very rare form, ''erythrogastrum'', resembles the male. Small red damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) immature male.jpg, immature male Small red damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) male Crockford Stream 2.jpg, male
dorsal view Small red damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) female form melanogastrum 2.jpg, female
form ''melanogastrum''
dorsal view Small red damselflies (Ceriagrion tenellum) in tandem female typica.jpg, in tandem
female form ''typica'' Small red damselflies (Ceriagrion tenellum) mating female typica.jpg, mating
female form ''typica''

Behaviour

Adults fly low and weakly, rarely going far from breeding waters. Like the

southern damselfly ''Coenagrion mercuriale'', the southern damselfly, is a species of damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is found in Algeria, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, S ...

, which this species sometimes accompanies, they rarely fly in any but the warmest and calmest weather conditions. They can, however, be surprisingly inconspicuous, even the males. The males are aggressive towards each other but are not

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

Oviposition The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...

takes place in tandem.

Eggs and larvae

It lays elongated eggs in submerged and emergent plants which subsequently hatch after about a month. The larvae are very small, about , and are found in acidic bogs, streams and ponds. They live among debris in bogs and develop after two years.

References

* *

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1244678 Coenagrionidae Damselflies of Europe Insects described in 1789 Taxa named by Charles Joseph Devillers