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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) » Damselflies (Zygoptera) » Narrow-winged Damselflies (Coenagrionidae) » Dancers (Argia) » Blue-ringed Dancer (Argia sedula)

Species Argia sedula - Blue-ringed Dancer

Classification · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Blue-ringed Dancer - Argia sedula - male Damselfly - Argia sedula Blue Damselfly - Argia sedula Damselfly - Argia sedula - male Blue damselfly - Argia sedula - male Blue-ringed Dancer - Argia sedula - male Blue-ringed Dancers - Argia sedula - male - female Damsel - Argia sedula - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Odonata (Dragonflies and Damselflies)
Suborder Zygoptera (Damselflies)
Family Coenagrionidae (Narrow-winged Damselflies)
Genus Argia (Dancers)
Species sedula (Blue-ringed Dancer)
Explanation of Names
Author of species is Hagen. Species name is from Latin sedulus, meaning zealously (Internet searches).
Size
Length 31-36 mm
Identification
Male has black abdomen with blue rings. Resembles a bluet, but abdominal segment 2 mostly black, has wide black, forked, shoulder stripe. Thorax of male darkens during tandem oviposition. Some southern populations have slight tinting in wings. Female is brown, rather weakly marked.
Range
southern two-thirds of US, with a small "hump" in the northeast that reaches into southern Ontario and Michigan
more common southward in east
Habitat
Rivers, streams, lakes, ditches with aquatic vegetation. Perch often on vegetation in shade, unlike most other dancers (1).
Season
March-November (Texas); June-October (Virginia); June-September (Ontario)
Food
Predatory on small insects
Life Cycle
Oviposit in tandem into aquatic vegetation.
Print References
Abbott, pp. 83-85, photo 10d (1)
Dunkle, Damselflies of Florida, p. 89, figs. 66-67 (2)
Lam, p. 49 (3)
Nikula, p. 67 (4)
Internet References
TAMU
RLE Photo
NJ Odes
Odonata Central--Texas
Works Cited
1.Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States
By John C. Abbott
2.Damselflies of Florida, Bermuda, and the Bahamas
By Sidney W. Dunkle
3.Damselflies of the Northeast
By Ed Lam
4.Stokes Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies
By Donald and Lillian Stokes
Contributed by Cotinis on 9 March, 2004 - 4:30pm
Additional contributions by Mike Boone, Robin McLeod
Last updated 31 July, 2007 - 9:25am

clarification needed
Can you re-phrase the Identification statement "Thorax of male darkens during oviposition" to make it less confusing? At the moment, it sounds like the male lays eggs.
Does the male's thorax darken around the time that the female is ovipositing? Or is it the female's thorax that darkens?
… Robin McLeod, 22 July, 2005 - 2:12pm

 
From Damselflies of the Northeast
According to Lam (1), the "thorax of the male darkens while in tandem."
… Mike Boone, 16 June, 2007 - 11:53am

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