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Blue-tailed Damselfly |
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Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) The Blue-tailed damselfly can be seen from mid May to late September. The male has a black abdomen with a single blue band near the posterior end and a blue thorax with upper surface black-stripes. The females can be thoroughly confusing with at least four predominant colour forms including the more common blue form, which resembles the male, a violet thorax form, a reddish-brown thorax form and a light green form. In all female forms the abdomen is black except for the 8th segment and the legs are generally lighter in colour than in the males. This damselfly lives in a very wide variety of habitats including slow-moving streams and rivers, ponds, pools, lakes and bog pools. The species is distributed throughout the British Isles.
Mating wheel (female rufescens-obsoleta form)
Female rufescens form (click to enlarge)
Vice County distribution of Blue-tailed Damselfly up to 1990 (Data supplied by Biological Records Centre)
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