Coenagrion pulchellum
Coenagrion pulchellum (Vander Linden, 1825)
Local names: Variable damselfly, Fledermaus-Azurjungfer, Variabele waterjuffer, Agrion exclamatif, Mörk lyrflickslända
Species Information
Description
The males of this species are light blue to blue with black markings. They can be confused with the males of C. puella from which they can be distinguished by a general darker colouration, the larger extension of the black markings on the abdomen. The pattern makes the shape af a Y instead of a U on S2 and the antehumeral stripes often being split and thereby resembling an exclamation mark.
Sometimes the antehumeral stripes are complete but have a narrower neck towards the rear part ot the thorax. Sometimes the marking on S2 is not connected to the hind margin, making it look like C. puella. But any male with both broken antehumeral stripes and a good Y-shape on S2 should, with certainty, be a C. pulchellum.
The females have two colour forms, blue or green, like C. puella. Their identification is difficult and can only be done with certainty by looking at the shape and hind margin of the pronotum, that being dented in three points, form three lobes.
Size
Habitat
Coenagrion pulchellum is found in standing waters and slow-flowing sections of rivers. Habitats are largely unshaded oligotrophic, mesotrophic or eutrophic and nearly always have a well-developed bank-side and aquatic vegetation. Favoured habitats include lakes, ponds, fens, peat bogs, oxbows, ditches and canals. The species is generally absent from fast-flowing waters. C. pulchellum is mainly found in lowlands but breeds up to 1 500 m in southern Europe.
Distribution
Coenagrion pulchellum is widespread in central Europe but missing from most of the Iberian Peninsula and northern parts of Fennoscandia. It is rare in parts of mainland Italy and absent from Sicily. The species is reasonably common on Corsica but absent on Sardinia. In the Balkan Peninsula it becomes scarcer towards the south, but reaches the southern Peloponnese in Greece. In the Iberian Peninsula the species is rare and scattered in northern Spain. Only one recorded observation is made in Portugal but more small overlooked populations might exist in both Spain and Portugal.
Flight Period
April to August-September
Behavior
To find plenty of this species, look at edge zones, like sunny wind-protected glades and like. At really good spots you can find thousands of individuals.
Conservation Status
Similar Species
Coenagrion puella
External Links
Genus: Coenagrion
Coenagrion is a genus of damselflies in the family Coenagrionidae, commonly called the Eurasian Bluets (although three species are found in North America). Species of Coenagrion are generally medium-sized, brightly coloured damselflies.
Identification
Males are small blue damselflies with black markings. The blue areas may be partly greenish or whitish. Females have more extensive black markings, and are more often green or brownish. A damselfly with plain pterostigmas, with roundish postocular spots, with antehumeral stripes narrower than the black line below it, and with two short black lines on the thorax sides, will in most cases belong to Coenagrion.
Separation from other genera
Enallagma normally have antehumeral stripes wider than the black line below them and just one short black line on the thorax side. Ischnura males have bi-coloured pterostigma. Enallagma and Ischnura females have a vulvar spine. Erythromma species are darker, with reduced or no postocular spots, and males have red or all-blue eyes, whereas eyes of Coenagrion are blue with dark caps. The blue Erythromma lindenii is very similar, but differs in many details, like wider antehumeral stripes, an all-black upperside to S2 and a shorter 'tail-light' positioned further at the tip of the abdomen.
Behaviour
Males typically fly low among or along riparian vegetation. They rarely venture far from water. MAles and females in tandems often oviposit in concentrations on floating vegetation. The male often holds a conspicuous upright posture when in tandem with the female.
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 it the largest damselfly family. The family Coenagrionidae has six subfamilies: Agriocnemidinae, Argiinae, Coenagrioninae, Ischnurinae, Leptobasinae, and Pseudagrioninae.
This family is referred to as the narrow-winged damselflies or the pond damselflies. The Coenagrionidae enjoy a worldwide distribution, and are among the most common of damselfly families. This family has the smallest of damselfly species. More than 110 genera of the family Coenagrionidae are currently accepted.
The family was named by William Forsell Kirby in 1890. The name may be derived from Greek coen meaning shared or common and agrio meaning fields or wild.