Damselfly Pictures

Broad-winged Damselflies River Jewelwing Narrow-winged Damselflies Citrine Forktail Fragile Forktail Pacific Forktail Rambur's Forktail Western Forktail Blue-ringed Dancer Emmas's Dancer Variable Dancer Vivid Dancer Familiar Bluet Northern Bluet Purple Bluet Tule Bluet Western Red Damselfly Spreadwing Damselflies Black Spreadwing California Spreadwing Emerald Spreadwing Dragonfly Pictures

Most people recognize damselflies as the physically smaller insect group of the Odonata order.

With the exception of a couple of species in the Protoneuridae family called threadtails, all of the damselflies in the United States fit into one of three different families, based primarily on wing patterns.

• Broad-winged Damselflies (Calopterygidae)
• Narrow-winged Damselflies (Coenagrionidae)
• Spreadwing Damselflies (Lestidae)

Narrow-winged damselflies account for the bulk of the damselfly population, and within that family most species belong to one of three genera, American Bluets (Enallagma), Forktails (Ischnura) and Dancers (Argia).

Black and blue colored body patterns abound in species from all three genera, which can lead to identification confusion. While a few major between genera physical differences exist to aid with genus identification, within genus physical differences can be so slight as to make visual identification close to impossible without the aid of a magnifying glass.

Within genus identification is further compounded by the fact that many female species can have anywhere from two to four different forms, depending on age and location. A comparison of the Tule Bluet and Northen Bluet exemplifies the within genus identification problem.

The links in the box point to a small sample of damselflies from all three families. Most of the species differ enough to provide a decent beginner's identification guide.

© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels