Blue damselfly - Argia apicalis - BugGuide.Net

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) » Damselflies (Zygoptera) » Narrow-winged Damselflies (Coenagrionidae) » Dancers (Argia) » Blue-fronted Dancer (Argia apicalis)

Photo#655612

Copyright © 2012 Ben Gray

Blue damselfly - Argia apicalis -

Northeast Park, Gibsonville, Guilford County, North Carolina, USA
June 10, 2012

Beautiful damselfly. These were relatively common yesterday.

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Contributed by Ben Gray on 11 June, 2012 - 3:16pm
Last updated 12 June, 2012 - 7:59am

Moved

Moved from Dancers.

… john and jane balaban, 12 June, 2012 - 7:59am

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These blue form females

are a tough pair, but we would agree with you that this is Blue Fronted and will move it there

… john and jane balaban, 12 June, 2012 - 7:59am

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blue-fronted or blue-tipped?

I'm not sure how variable these are, but the Blue Fronted damselflies (Argia apicalis) seem to also have blue on the thorax as well as the back of their abdomen. The Blue Tipped damselflies (Argia tibialis) seem to have blue thoraxes and all black abdomens, as in the picture here. This coloration looks consistent in the pictures in the guide, but I would be happy to defer - I'm not even an entomologist, let alone a damselfly expert.

… Ben Gray, 12 June, 2012 - 8:44am

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Ah! Skipped right over what you wrote.

Will have to learn to read more carefully! But Blue-tipped would not have an all blue thorax. The two that do are Blue-fronted and Powdered and his seems dark enough to be apicalis. The blue on the end of the abdomen is found in males. Yours looks to be a female.

… john and jane balaban, 12 June, 2012 - 3:30pm

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Thanks!

Thanks, I'm learning a lot from this site.

… Ben Gray, 12 June, 2012 - 3:41pm

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Moved

Moved from Damselflies.

Thank you for the ID help. After looking through the dancers, I thought maybe this could be a blue-tipped dancer:

This image is also from NC in June, and looks consistent with what I saw, but I am definitely not an expert.

… Ben Gray, 12 June, 2012 - 6:57am

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One of the Argia

probably Blue-fronted or Powdered. Will have to look them up.

… john and jane balaban, 11 June, 2012 - 9:39pm

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