Ischnura fountaineae

• Scientific name: Ischnura fountaineae Morton, 1905
• English name: Oasis Bluetail
• German name: Oasen-Pechlibelle
• French name: N/A
• Dutch name: Oaselantaarntje
• Swedish name: N/A
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: N/A
• Danish name: N/A
• Italian name: Codazzurra delle oasi
• Czech name: N/A
• Slovenian name: N/A
• Bulgarian name: N/A
• Typical length: 27-34 mm
• Hindwing: 19-24 mm

Ischnura fountaineae

Map data based on J.-P. Boudot & V. J. Kalkman (eds.),
Atlas of the European Dragonflies and Damselflies

The Oasis Bluetail is only considered a European species because it occurs (or: used to occur?) on the small Italian island of Pantelleria, just off the Tunisian coast. Its actual home is in the arid regions of North-Africa and the Middle-East, where it lives in desert oases and near the coast (the species is quite tolerant of high salinity). Ischnura fountaineae is about the same size as I. elegans. The males are invariably blue (even when immature), while the females occur in a number of colour forms, the most striking perhaps being the vivid orange form aurantiaca. Other forms are yellow, light brown, or brownish green. The final, so-called andromorph form looks very much like the male and during our 2009 field trip to Tunisia appeared to be fairly common. Females may or may not have a (blue) tail light on S8.