Azure Bluet (Coenagrion puella)
• English name: Azure Bluet
• German name: Hufeisen-Azurjungfer
• French name: Agrion jouvencelle
• Dutch name: Azuurwaterjuffer
• Swedish name: Ljus lyrflickslända
• Norwegian name: Sørlig blåvannymfe
• Finnish name: Eteläntytönkorento
• Danish name: Hestesko-vandnymfe
• Italian name: Azzurrina comune
• Czech name: šidélko páskované
• Slovenian name: Travniški škratec
• Bulgarian name: Обикновено пъстриче
Azure Bluet
(Coenagrion puella)
Not present
Present before 1990
Present after 1990
Present before and after 1990
Present after 2015
Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies
| General | • a small species, very common throughout Europe except northern Scandinavia and Crete; similar to C. pulchellum | |
| Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Coenagrionidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Coenagrion puella (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Name genus | • Coenagrion: from Grk. κοινός = common, widespread +; ἄγριος = wild, living in the fields | |
| Name species | • puella: from Lat. puella = girl, maiden | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • any well-vegetated pond or lake | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 33-35 mm; hindwing: 15-24 mm | |
| Both sexes | Wings | • the pterostigma is uniformly dark grey to black |
| Male | Thorax | ➤ the antehumeral stripe is thin but uninterrupted |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen has a U-shaped mark on S2 | |
| ➤ the amount of black dorsally on S3, S4 and S5 is often a constant 20% or so of the total lengths of S3, S4 and S5 | ||
| • in side view the lower part of S3-S5 bears long black lines | ||
| Female | Thorax | ➤ the hind margin of the pronotum has two weak incisions, creating three wavy lobes; see also the LineDrawing below |
| Abdomen | • the top of the abdomen is mostly black with some coloured spots at the segment borders | |
| Photographs | • most of our photos below were made in Tuscany |
LineDrawing: the male's head, thorax and abdomen in lateral view, and the female's pronotum in dorsal and lateral view.
