Ischnura genei

The Island Bluetail replaces the Common Bluetail on some Mediterranean Islands (e.g. Corsica and Sardinia, where the two species are not known to coexist). Most of our photographs of Ischnura genei were made on the latter island. It's a small and slender damselfly which tends to be a bit smaller and daintier than the Common Bluetail. More important - for identification purposes - is the differently-shaped pronotum in the male, which in I. genei lacks an upright front edge. The black abdomen carries a striking blue tail-light on S8 in the male. Some female colour forms too have a blue tail-light on S8 but it tends to be interrupted by a black mark on either end. In some other female colour forms S8 is rusty brown. The male's pterostigma is bi-coloured (as it is in Ischnura elegans). The various female colour forms are illustrated in our photographs below.

For an overview of the Island Bluetail's distribution in Europe, hover your mouse pointer over the map symbol .
With the authors' permission we have based this map on data published in Kalkman et al. (2010).

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