- Pond Damselflies
- Coenagrionidae Family
The Familiar Bluet is the most common and widespread of our damselflies. It is less common as one goes west although still abundant locally. In the eastern counties it is as common on streams as it is in lakes, but in western counties it is mostly restricted to the edge vegetation of ponds and lakes. It can be the only bluet, and one of only a few species, on new ponds, polluted ponds or seasonal ponds, and it is often abundant in these situations.
The male is mostly sky blue, with two blue, tear-shaped eyespots on the top of the dark head. The abdomen is predominately blue, with small black areas of similar size and shape on segments 3 to 5. The females may be blue or brown.
Familiar Bluet male. Photo courtesy of Terry Hibbitts.
Size: 30-39 mm (1.2-1.5 in)
Habitat: virtually any slow water habitat
Great Plains Range: TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, ND, NM, CO, WY, MT, MO, IA, MN
Flight season: early May to early October
Green indicates accepted county record (specimen or photograph).
Yellow indicates sight record only.