Variable Bluet (Coenagrion pulchellum)
• English name: Variable Bluet
• German name: Fledermaus-Azurjungfer
• French name: Agrion joli
• Dutch name: Variabele waterjuffer
• Swedish name: Mörk lyrflickslända
• Norwegian name: Variabel blåvannymfe
• Finnish name: Sirotytönkorento
• Danish name: Flagermus-vandnymfe
• Italian name: Azzurrina variabile
• Czech name: šidélko širokoskvrnné
• Slovenian name: Suhljati škratec
• Bulgarian name: Ивичесто пъстриче
Variable Bluet
(Coenagrion pulchellum)
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, fairly common in central and northern Europe but much rarer in the south; the black markings on the thorax and abdomen are subject to considerable variation; similar to C. puella | |
| Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Coenagrionidae | |
| Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Least Concern | |
| Scientific name | • Coenagrion pulchellum (Vander Linden, 1825) | |
| Name genus | • Coenagrion: from Grk. κοινός = common, widespread +; ἄγριος = wild, living in the fields | |
| Name species | • pulchellum: from Lat. pulcher, dimin. pulchellus, -a, -um = pretty | |
| Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
| Habitat | • any pond or lake, especially with non-acidic water | |
| Dimensions | • typical body length: 34-38 mm; hindwing: 16-23 mm | |
| Both sexes | Wings | • the pterostigma is uniformly dark grey to black |
| Male | Thorax | ➤ the narrow antehumeral stripe is heavily constricted or even interrupted so that effectively it resembles an exclamation mark |
| Abdomen | • the abdomen has a Y-shaped mark on S2 | |
| ➤ the amount of black dorsally on S3, S4 and S5 tends to increase, with a minimum of about 20% on S3 to 25% on S4 to 30% on S5 | ||
| • in side view the lower part of S3-S5 bears long black lines | ||
| Female | Thorax | ➤ the hind margin of the pronotum has two deep incisions, creating three separate 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 Italy, northern France and the Netherlands |
LineDrawing: the female's pronotum in dorsal and lateral view.
