Oasis Bluetail (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
Oasis Bluetail
(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 | |
| Name genus | • Ischnura: from Grk. ἰσχνός = thin, slender +; οὐρά = tail ⇒ for the slender abdomen (compared to e.g. Calopteryx species) | |
| Name species | • fountaineae: after Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine (1862-1940), English entomologist | |
| 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 |
