General: Pacific Forktails (Ischnura cervula) are small damselflies. In adult males, the side of the thorax is blue with a black stripe, and the top of the thorax is black 4 small blue dots. The abdomen is black, except that segments 8 and 9 are blue.
Adult females are variable, but the top and back of the eyes can be tan or pink, and the abdomen usually is black except that segment 8 is blue (little if any blue on top of segment 9).
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. |