General: Blue-ringed Dancer Damselflies (Argia sedula) are small, active daytime fliers often seen in the grasses and other vegetation around ponds and slow waters around Las Vegas. Adult males are recognized by their blue head and thorax and black abdomen ringed in blue. On closer inspection, the black shoulder stripe is quite wide, and the tip of the abdomen is blue. Females is similar, but paler than the male.
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. |