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Enallagma clausum
Alkali Bluet
Family: Coenagrionidae
Species account author: Robert Cannings.
Extracted from Introducing the Dragonflies of British Columbia and the Yukon (2002)


Photograph

© Robert A. Cannings     (Photo ID #1370)

Map

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Distribution of Enallagma clausum in British Columbia.
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Source: (for the static map) RBCM and BCCDC 2004 ©

Species Information


Description

Male’s appendages shown in figure. All or most of female’s segment 8 is pale. Length: ♂ 35 mm, ♀ 34 mm.


Flight Period

B.C., mid June to early September.

Genus Description


There are two genera of bluets: Coenagrion and Enallagma. Coenagrion live mainly in Europe and Asia. Two species range across most of northern North America: the common Taiga Bluet and the rarer Subarctic Bluet. A third, the Prairie Bluet, flies on the Great Plains. Most Eurasian Bluet adults fly in late spring or early summer. They are similar to those of Enallagma - males are blue and black (but often green below); but the structure of the male appendages is different and females have no vulvar spine.

Biology

Family Description

Small damselflies that normally perch with wings closed above the abdomen. Most males are blue marked with black, but the main colour may be green, yellow, orange, red or purple. Females often have two colour forms per species, one similar to the male (usually blue). Females lay eggs in the tissues of water plants, sometimes completely submerging themselves for a long time while laying. Larave are not as long as spreadwing larave and have short labia, unstalked at the base. There are six genera and 18 species of pond damsels in our region. The American Bluets (Enallagma) and forktails (Ischnura) are the most common groups.
Field Notes

Prefers saline ponds and lakes in grasslands and dry forests.

Distribution


Western. Scattered localities in B.C.’s southern interior north to the Cariboo region.

Status Information

Origin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)
COSEWIC
NativeS3BlueNot Listed



BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer--the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.