Nebraska Dragonflies and Damselflies

Double-striped Bluet

Enallagma basidens

Calvert, 1902

The black and blue Double-striped Bluet is a fairly easy species to identify by virtue of its small size and doubled shoulder stripes. Females may be pale blue, green or tan. Females also have a distinctive black M-shaped mark on the top of abdominal segment 9.

This is a fairly common eastern species reaching western Nebraska, eastern Colorado and eastern Wyoming. Nebraska is at the northern edge of the range. Most frequently it is found in borrow pits and small ponds, but it is also present in clear flowing streams. Frequently it is found with Familiar Bluet, and despite its smaller size and distinctive thoracic pattern, it is easily overlooked in such situations.

Green indicates accepted county record (specimen or photograph).
Yellow indicates sight record only.