Persian Bluetail (Ischnura intermedia)

• Scientific name: Ischnura intermedia Dumont, 1974
• English name: Persian Bluetail
• German name: Persische Pechlibelle
• French name: N/A
• Dutch name: Perzisch lantaarntje
• Swedish name: N/A
• Norwegian name: N/A
• Finnish name: N/A
• Danish name: N/A
• Italian name: N/A
• Czech name: N/A
• Slovenian name: N/A
• Bulgarian name: N/A
• Typical length: 26-31 mm
• Hindwing: 14-18 mm

Persian Bluetail (Ischnura intermedia)

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

The Persian Bluetail became part of the European dragonfly fauna when it was first reported from Cyprus in 2013. Originally described in 1974 from Asian Turkey, Ischnura intermedia is about the same size as I. pumilio and greatly resembles that species. And yet male intermedia is fairly easy to tell apart from male pumilio: in intermedia the male's S8 and S9 are completely - or at least predominantly - light blue, whereas in male pumilio S8 is only partly blue and mostly black. Females may be more difficult to tell apart in the field, but the black colouration dorsally on S8-S10 does seem much narrower in female intermedia than in pumilio, leaving the fleshy-coloured sides of those segments clearly visible when viewed from above. In any case, the two species are not known to co-occur on Cyprus, which is where we made the photographs below in May 2016.