Enallagma cyathigerum - Common Blue Damsel
Phylum: Arthropoda - Class: Insecta - Order: Odonata - Family: Coenagriidae
This is the damselfly that is seen most often on lakes and ponds in summer. The male, shown above, fully justifies the adjective 'blue'.
In contrast the female ( pictured above) is a less conspicuous insects with blackish body colouring.
Mating damselflies form what is often referred to as a 'damsel wheel. Paired damselflies can be seen flitting over the water surface and then settling on a floating plant leaf so that the female can dip her oviposotor into the water, attaching eggs to the edge of the leaf.
Above: a female Common Blue damselfly, southern France
Acknowledgements
This page includes pictures kindly contributed by Simon Harding.
Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.
Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.