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
Coenagrion pulchellum
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.
Coenagrion pulchellum; thorax
Note: By contrast, the antehumeral stripe in C. puella is uninterrupted and unconstricted.
Coenagrion puella (top) and C. pulchellum (bottom); abdomen, male
Note the increasing amount of black on S3, S4 and S5 in C. pulchellum.
Twelve Coenagrion species; pronotum, female
Note: In C. pulchellum the hind margin of the pronotum has two deep incisions, creating three separate lobes.
Variable Bluet (Coenagrion pulchellum)
Female pronotum in dorsal and lateral view
Drawing by Ruth Ilka Nüß
© 2017 Lehmann & Nüß and DragonflyPix.com
