Ischnura fountaineae
• 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
Ischnura fountaineae
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 fairly small species which in Europe occurs only on the Italian island of Pantelleria, off the Tunisian coast | |
Classification | • suborder: Zygoptera (damselflies); family: Coenagrionidae | |
Conservation status | • IUCN Red List Europe: Vulnerable | |
Scientific name | • Ischnura fountaineae Morton, 1905 | |
Distribution | • click or tap the Map button above | |
Habitat | • desert oases and (brackish) coastal ponds and lakes | |
Dimensions | • typical body length: 27-34 mm; hindwing: 19-24 mm | |
Notes | • can reproduce in water with high salinity | |
Both sexes | Wings | • the pterostigma in the forewing is the same size as that in the hindwing |
Male | Thorax | ➤ the lower side of the thorax is sky blue, never green |
• the antehumeral stripe is pale and is often heavily reduced or absent | ||
• the pronotum does not have an upright front edge | ||
Abdomen | • the abdomen is black on top, but S8 is sky blue | |
• the black upper part of S2 is separated from the sky blue lower part in a wavy bulge | ||
Wings | • the pterostigma in the forewing is bicoloured: black on the inside, white on the outside; the pterostigma in the hindwing is uniformly beige/brown | |
Female | Thorax | • in gynochrome females the side of the thorax is bright orange at first; with age this colour is replaced by brown/green |
• in androchrome females the side of the thorax is sky blue | ||
Abdomen | • the abdomen is black on top, but in androchrome females S8 is sky blue | |
• the abdomen has a vulvar spine underneath S8 | ||
Wings | • the pterostigma is uniformly beige/brown in both wings | |
Photographs | • all of our photos below were made in desert oases in Tunisia in October 2009 |