|Pond Damsels (Coenagrionidae)|
|Note: 40 species have been found in Georgia in this group, and all are listed in the "Dragonflies and Damselflies of Georgia" link on the main dragonfly page. Many cannot be identified except in the hand with a magnifying lens (especially the bluets), and some have only one or two records, but almost all are depicted on this page. Thanks to Bill Mauffray and Ed Lam for id tips on this difficult group.|
|Eastern Red Damsel (Amphiagrion saucium)
Tiny species, males on left and females on right. Note females vary from very pale red or brown to almost as dark as males. Found early and down to fall line. Only other small red damsel is Duckweed Firetail only in south and later in summer. 9 records.
13 Apr- 27 Jun
|Blue-fronted Dancer (Argia apicalis)
Adult male has mostly blue thorax with very thin shoulder lines (upper left). Imm male (upper right) and female (both lower) forms have no blue abdomen tip and also very thin thoracic stripes but can be tough to id. Black striping on female abdomen extends onto last segment. Common and widespread. 21 Apr- 18 Oct
|Seepage Dancer (Argia bipunctulata)
Looks like a bluet but is smallest dancer. No eye spots. Note pattern of abdomen. Females on right, note colored segment on abdomen is two in from the tip, unlike other similar species, and also very wide shoulder stripe. 12 records.
17 Apr- 1 Oct
|Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis)
Male unmistakable with purple thorax and abdomen. Southern subspecies
fumipennis ("Smoky-winged Dancer," upper left) is found throughout GA and has dark wings and
partially black abdomen,
violacea ("Violet Dancer," all three on right) in northern part of state has clear wings
and little black on abdomen. A third subspecies, atra ("Black
two left photos), just barely gets into southeast GA, all black abdomen except
for tip. Individual at lower right is
intermediate between violacea and fumipennis. Georgia is the only state
that gets all three types. Female/imm at upper middle left and lower middle
|Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta)
Widespread river species. Adult male in upper left is unmistakable. Imm male
middle left. Most
share wide middorsal stripe, usually black, and usually wide shoulder
stripes. Some females in northern part of state have thin middorsal stripe,
both examples on this page. Many types of females! Pale blue females (upper
on right) look similar to Blue-fronted male but no blue tip to abdomen. Some
females of all color forms have one wide and one thin shoulder stripe (see
Brown forms fairly common, compare with Blue-tipped females, green form (near
left) rare in
8 May- 9 Nov
|Blue-ringed Dancer (Argia sedula)
Long black abdomen with blue rings and darker blue upper thorax. Imm male lower left brown. Female very pale brown, both lower right. Some females have amber-colored wings, not age-related. Note thorax colors on male middle left, uncommon darker form. Uncommon but widespread north of fall line in streams.
18 Apr- 14 Oct
|Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis)
Male is easy with purple top of thorax, black abdomen with blue tip.
Variable Dancer has purple abdomen. Females harder but look for wide black
shoulder stripe with small triangle of thorax color at upper end. Triangle
may not be as obvious or present in many individuals... see example lower
right. Females occur in
several forms, "blue" form at lower left+right and upper right, "brown" form at
middle left and right. Common throughout the state at streams and
|Dusky Dancer (Argia translata)
Dark abdomen with small amounts of blue near tip, this feature variable.
Note blue face and eyes contrasting with very dark upper thorax. Note that
some males like middle left have paler lower sides to thorax. Female very pale
brown, note double shoulder stripe at lower left. 16 records in northern half of GA.
|Aurora Damsel (Chromagrion conditum)
Large but found only in north GA and early in year. Note yellow color on lower sides of thorax. Usually holds wings partially spread at rest. Female lower left. 12 records.
28 Apr- 30 Jun
|Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum)
Similar to Skimming but larger, note exact shape of blue markings near tip of abdomen (easiest to see on right). Also note that this species shows more blue near tip of abdomen than any other mostly dark bluet. Female at lower left. 12 records. 20 Apr- 3 Sep
|Double-striped Bluet (Enallagma basidens)
Note double black line in shoulder area of thorax of both sexes. Tiny size. Imm male at upper left looks like female except for colored segments at end of abdomen, females depicted in lower two images.
14 Apr- 23 Oct
|Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile)
Cannot be identified with certainty except in hand since several very similar species look like this, including species occurring in Georgia like Atlantic Bluet (E doubledayi) and Big Bluet (E durum). You can get an idea of cerci shape in upper left image but check books to be certain, best way to tell from Atlantic. Typically has two distinct ocular spots but not always reliable. Note brown one at middle left (below pair) is imm male (cerci shape and limited black). Widespread. Females variable, three colors: tan at lower left, male-like (blue) at lower right and in tandem at upper right, and green at middle right.
3 Apr- 7 Dec
|Atlantic Bluet (Enallagma
Very similar to Familiar Bluet above but less widespread. Note that Atlantic normally has blue post-ocular spots on head connected by a blue bar and Familiar only has blue spots. Male appendages shorter than Familiar. Imm male lower right. Females at upper right and both lower left, have same three color forms as Familiar above except blue and green very pale. Note that sometimes the shoulder stripe of females narrows to rear into a point.
6 Mar- 25 Nov
|Big Bluet (Enallagma
Very similar to two bluets above, especially female which can only be told in hand. In males (upper left) note that all the black color areas on abdomen are elongated and pointed to front unlike Familiar and Atlantic. Only one record in Baker Co, but should be more especially in southeast. 11 Jun- 25 Sep
|Sandhill Bluet (Enallagma
Note similar color pattern to common bluets above. Blue slightly darker, note black mark on side of abdominal segment 8 and very hairy thorax. Females two lower right. Only recorded from Richmond, Taylor and Telfair Counties so far but should be found in other sandhill areas. Also only found early.
14 Mar- 12 May
|Turquoise Bluet (Enallagma divagans)
Long mostly black abdomen, and note exact position and shape of blue on abdomen. Female usually has a black shoulder stripe, but some like at lower left have brown shoulder stripe. Fairly common. 26 Mar- 4 Sep
|Stream Bluet (Enallagma exsulans)
Similar to Turquoise but note position and shape of blue near tip of
abdomen, typically a wedge of black into the blue as in upper right, but can
be as in upper left. Note brown shoulder line on female (middle right
and both lower shots). Female at lower right is about to fully submerge to
|Skimming Bluet (Enallagma geminatum)
Very small mostly dark bluet. Blue shoulder stripe normally complete but may be pinched off as at upper middle right. Rarely, the spot will be gone and the short shoulder stripe ends in a point, as in shot at lower middle right. Note also wavy blue line on side of first visible abdominal segment. Females have unique pattern on abdomen with pair of blue spots near tip. Note Orange Bluet for size comparison. Immatures very rarely purple as at lower middle left, compare to Purple Bluet. Fairly common in north.
17 Mar- 25 Nov
|Attenuated Bluet (Enallagma
Similar to Pale Bluet below, but has blue in last 3 abdominal segments (only part of third), and longer body. Females may be blue, green, or brown, both bottom images. Note pale teneral one at upper right is perched on a shed spider exoskeleton. 15 county records.
11 Apr- 10 Sep
|Pale Bluet (Enallagma pallidum)
Almost unmarked for a bluet. 7 records in south. Blue on only last two segments, compare to Attenuated above. Females both lower images.
18 Apr- 14 Jun
|Orange Bluet (Enallagma signatum)
Only all-orange bluet. Typical female similar to male but paler, see lower right. Some females and young males are blue, see female middle left (male at lower left has long appendages unlike female). Note blue is on thorax and tip of abdomen only, eliminates most other bluets. Widespread and common.
13 Mar- 25 Nov
|Cherry Bluet (Enallagma
Note similar color pattern to Orange Bluet above but much redder. The male at middle left is trying to remove some spider webbing from his wings. Note on females at bottom that lower thoracic suture has only a very thin black line, not a black wedge as in Burgundy Bluet. 10 records, only in south.
13 Mar- 6 Nov
|Slender Bluet (Enallagma traviatum)
Marked more heavily than Pale and black mark on blue segment at base of thorax. Also similar to Turquoise but thinner shoulder stripe, more blue rings on abdomen, larger eye spots, and very long cerci. 19 records in northern half of state. Note color of female in two lower images especially top of thorax and pattern on upper surface of last abdominal segments.
26 Apr- 15 Aug
|Vesper Bluet (Enallagma vesperum)
Yellow-orange thorax and blue abdomen tip of male, upper left, most often seen at dusk or late afternoon. Females (all other images) similar to Orange Bluet females, but shoulder stripe has very thin black line in comparison. 18 records.
1 Apr- 9 Nov
|Blackwater Bluet (Enallagma
Very long and slender bluet, and weakly marked. Note single blue abdominal segment and colors of thorax. Imm male second one down on right. Female both lower right can be very similar to Stream Bluet female. About 17 records. Often shy and stays in shade.
12 May- 4 Nov
|Purple Bluet (Enallagma
Dark color, very rare in GA, only three records from Clinch, Early and Atkinson Counties. Note pattern on abdomen of female (both lower images).
25 Mar- 23 Oct
|Burgundy Bluet (Enallagma dubium)
Very small mostly dark-reddish bluet, the lower left image is a very young male without adult colors. Female lower right. Mostly found in south, 16 records, note very wide shoulder stripe. Also note black wedge along lower thoracic suture at lower left, compare to Cherry Bluet.
13 Mar- 28 Sep
|Citrine Forktail (Ischnura hastata)
Tiny, even for a forktail, widespread mostly in marshes or wet areas. Yellow abdomen in males, upper left. Juvenile females are orange or red, two middle images and lower left, and show only a few segments black dorsally toward the tip. Note similarity to imm female Rambur's (below). Females become olive (upper right) with maturity, with all abdominal segments dorsally black. Very old females are quite dark, lower right.
31 Jan- 6 Jan
|Lilypad Forktail (Ischnura kellicotti)
Males (upper left) are bright blue, females in two forms. Upper right is red form, immature, lower right is blue form, mature, red form most often seen. Typical posture with abdomen tip resting on lilypad. Only found in lilypad areas. 3 Mar- 11 Nov
|Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita)
Male is an easy id, between very tiny size and green exclamation marks on thorax. Adult female at upper and middle right with paler pattern of exclamation marks on shoulder. Note at middle right pattern on thorax may be faded and not visible. Juvenile females on lower row (note similarity to Skimming Bluet blue pattern on thorax). Teneral brown one at lower left still has same pattern. Widespread and common.
22 Jan- 6 Jan
|Furtive Forktail (Ischnura
This very secretive forest swamp forktail is known from 10 GA counties. The female at lower right is in between imm and adult colors.
14 Mar- 7 Sep
|Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii)
Male has green thorax and one and one half blue segments at tip of abdomen (upper right). Two major types of females: adult male-like looks very much like male (third one down on left), adult olive form two upper right images. Orange ones at middle right are immature of olive female, not quite adult at lower right and seemingly mature in wheel second one down on left. Note similarity of olive female to female Citrine, which is smaller and has lower sides of thorax pale not olive. Immature of male-like female both lower left, bottom one teneral. Common and widespread.
6 Mar- 22 Dec
|Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis)
Similar to Rambur's but much less common, note thorax stripe color and last two abdominal segments blue in Eastern and one and a half in Rambur's male. Note Eastern has small black marks on sides of blue abdominal segments (upper right). Female similar to Fragile but note clean blue shoulder stripe. Note also that black shoulder stripe in females may be very thin or as thick as blue stripe. Imm females in lower row. 14 records in north. 23 May- 24 Sep
|Sphagnum Sprite (Nehalennia
Tiny damsels with metallic green upper thorax and no
stripes. Male at left and female at right. Two records.
|Southern Sprite (Nehalennia
Tiny damsels similar to Sphagnum, but even smaller. Note size and pattern of blue segments at tip of abdomen. Males on upper row, females lower. Only 23mm long! 20 records.
|Duckweed Firetail (Telebasis byersi)
Tiny red damsel below fall line only, 5 records. Female at lower left similar but more
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