Dragonflies and Damselflies 2010

I’m giving an insight into the blue damselfly species here. Get these cracked and you’re well on the way to identifying most species.

The are 6 blue damselfly species in Ireland.
Ischnura elegansCommon Bluetail Common Blue-tailed Damselfly
Ischnura pumilioSmall Bluetail Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly
Enallagma cyathigerumCommon Bluet Common Blue Damselfly
Coenagrion lunulatumCrescent Bluet Irish Damselfly
Coenagrion puellaAzure Bluet Azure Damselfly
Coenagrion pulchellumVariable Bluet Variable Damselfly

4 of these are common and widespread and can all occur together at same site. Crescent Bluet Irish Damselfly is local in northern half of Ireland and Ischnura pumilioSmall Bluetail Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly is widespread but very local.
What complicates making identifications is that males and females usually differ within a species , there are various colour forms within many species and colour changes from newly emerged adults to when they are mature.
For now I’ll deal with males of the 4 common species
I’ve highlighted the critical areas to look at in this photo. I’ll refer back to them regularly. The numbers are the segments of the abdomen(tail)

I have photos of Common Bluetail, Azure Bluet and Common Bluet. Variable Bluet is an irregular visitor to me garden and I haven’t seen one yet. It is abundant a mile away though so I may get a photo.
I’ll start off with Ischnura elegans Common Bluetail Common Blue-tailed Damselfly
Main feature is that segment 8 is blue with rest of abdomen black. Both sexes can appear like this though some females have a a brown segment 8.


Unfortunately you can't assume that a single blue segment is this species because Small Bluetail is similar. In this species segment 9 and part of segment 8 is blue. It is a smaller light species. See photo
All of the following are various form of Common Bluetail. There are 2 photos of one in which the wings did not inflate successfully and the wings have hardened deformed. It'll never fly. The 2 stripes on side of thorax can be seen.






Enallagma cyathigerum Common Bluet Common Blue Damselfly
Segments 8 & 9 blue but can contain bits of black. Single strip on side of thorax and a club shaped marking in segment 2. The 2nd photo shows a male recently emerged (Teneral) It doesn't have the blue colour yet. This takes a few days after emergence.




Coenagrion puellaAzure Bluet Azure Damselfly
2 stripes on side of thorax, u shaped marking in segment 2 and segment 8 and much of segment 9 blue.


Pair of Azure Bluet in tandem


Another pair in tandem and an exuvia can be seen on leaf on left. An exuvia is the left over larval skin from which the adult emerges.


Another male Azure Bluet, but the colours have not matured yet


Coenagrion pulchellumVariable Bluet Variable Damselfly
I don't have photos of this species, but see photo here
Its main features are
2 stripes on side of thorax, a wine glass marking (u with a stem) in segment 2, narrow or even broken antehumeral stripes, Segment 8 and a small part of segment 9 blue.

Coenagrion lunulatumCrescent Bluet Irish Damselfly
I've never seen this species
See details and photos of this species on the dragonflyIreland website

Cardynal wrote: »

Some nice shots and info there Mothman , here's another Red ( i think) from Tacumshin Co Wexford last summer.
Regards Tom.

This is Ruddy Darter. It is a Dragonfly and rests with its wings open. All of the above pictures are damselflies and they rest with wings closed or slightly ajar.

There are 2 red species of Darter that are resident. Common and Ruddy. Sometimes can be difficult to tell apart. Ruddy has slightly shorter abdomen that is slightly pinched. It is usually more red in colour.
A foolproof way of separating them is that Ruddy Darter has black legs, Common Darter has yellow stripes on legs. These stripes are not really obvious, but they make the legs not black.
Apart from the legs, the above applies to mature males. Females and immatures of both species are generally yellow in colour. Both species are late summer species though can be on the wing in June.

Cardynal wrote: »

Thanks for that , plenty of these guys around that day , would this be a female ?.

I've just looked at your first one again and its a female! A very red one. The anal appendages at the tip of abdomen are different between sexes.

The 2nd one is also a female but I'm not sure it isn't a Common Darter. I'm trying to see if the legs are pure black or whether there is yellow on them.

Cardynal wrote: »

One from today Hairy Dragonfly (i think)

It is, a male. Female have yellow instead of blue along abdomen.

Emperor Dragonfly are on the wing now, keep your eye out. They're just emerging so I don't expect any to be holding territory for a couple weeks

The 3
Female Large Red Damsel/Large Red Damselfly
It is Beautiful demosielle
and last one is a female Common Bluetail/Common Blue-tailed Damselfly

The demoiselle is either one or the other. Its quite hard to tell females of Beautiful and Banded apart and I can't do it from photos. Beautiful has brownish wings, whereas Banded has slightly greenish wings.
But by the time the photo goes from being taken via processing at your end to screen at my end, the chances of me seeing what was the actual colour is slim.
Add in that the tinting gets stronger as the specimen ages...it alladds up to me not identifying females of these 2 species from photos.

about the Large Red, I have good photo (for me) of a pair which I'll upload sometime, but she won't change much. There are different forms with varying amount of red on abdomen but the all black abdomen as in yours and the one in my photo atays this way. The eyes may get more red and the may be a hint of red at very end of abdomen where it is currently pale.

I have an Blue Emperor Emperor Dragonfly in control of my pond today. Quite early for a mature specimen. Usually they start to emerge about now and it takes 10 days or so to mature.
You know what most of my photos are like, but you get the idea of apple green body (thorax) with a blue tail (abdomen). Ireland's largest dragonfly.


I said I had photo of a pair of Large Red in tandem.



Also a pair of Azure Bluet in cop.
The sperm is being transferred. Before this the male has already passed the sperm from near end of his abdomen to under his second segment.


A damselfly emerging


and 45 minutes later, the abdomen is not fully extended yet. Basically fluid is pumped into wings to inflate them, then the fluid drains out into the abdomen and the wings dry out.

Ok, I'm on for that. It would be nice to have a small group. One issue with this is that dragonflies are sun creatures though if its still warm enough then they'll be in the air.

Anyone interested, please pm me and we'll see if we can get a small group.
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