General: Familiar Bluet Damselfly (Enallagma civile) are medium-sized damselflies. Males are more blue than black. S3 (the third abdominal segment counting from the front) is more than 50% blue. Black shoulder stripe is "uniformly" thick (not pinched in the middle; compare with Vivid Dancer). Females are similar, except gray where males are blue.
These active creatures are harmless to humans, but they are voracious predators of small flying insects such as flies and mosquitoes. There are some good places for Watching Damselflies Around Las Vegas.
Taxonomy: Order Odonata, Suborder Zygoptera, Family Coenagrionidae.
Where to Find: Around Las Vegas, Familiar Bluets are fairly common. Look for them around bodies of water such as springs at Red Rock Canyon and Lake Mead, and lakes such as those at Sunset Park and the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. |