Double-striped bluet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Double-striped bluet |
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Enallagma
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E. basidens
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| Enallagma basidens (Calvert, 1902)
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The double-striped bluet (Enallagma basidens) is a small, colorful damselfly. It belongs to the Coenagrionidae family, which includes many types of narrow-winged damselflies. You can easily spot this damselfly because of a special mark on its shoulders. It has a black stripe that looks like it's split in two by a thin blue line. No other damselfly has this unique pattern!
These damselflies are usually about 21 to 28 millimeters long. That's about the length of a small paperclip!
Adult male double-striped bluets have a body that mixes black and blue colors. The last part of their body is blue underneath and black on top. Segments 8 and 9 of their abdomen are completely blue.
Young damselflies and females are usually tan, olive green, or brown. But just like the males, they also have that special divided shoulder stripe. This stripe is the best way to tell them apart from other damselflies.
You will most often find double-striped bluets near lakes and ponds. They love still or slow-moving water. Sometimes, you might also see them flying near slow-moving streams.
Where Do Double-striped Bluets Live?
Double-striped bluets are found across a wide area in North America. They live in many parts of the United States and Canada.
- United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, West Virginia
- Canada: Ontario
