- Animals
- ›Arthropods
- ›Hexapods
- ›Insects
- ›Winged and Once-winged Insects
- ›Dragonflies and Damselflies
- ›Damselflies
- ›Coenagrionoid Damselflies
- ›Narrow-winged Damselflies
- ›Ischnura
Australian Bluetail
Ischnura heterosticta
Ischnura heterosticta, one of at least two species with the common name common bluetail, is a common Australian damselfly of the family Coenagrionidae. It is the largest of the six Ischnura species in Australia. They are generally found near slow-running or still water. The species is also salt tolerant. It flies from October to March.
From the article Ischnura heterosticta on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The common bluetail is a small damselfly. Most males have blue eyes, a blue thorax, and a blue ringed tail. The females have a variety of forms including green, brown, black, and a form with very similar colourings to the male.
Range & habitat
In Australia, Ischnura heterosticta is found throughout the entire continent including Tasmania.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
In human culture
The genus name Ischnura is derived from the Greek ἰσχνός (ischnos, "thin" or "slender") and οὐρά (oura, "tail"), referring to the slender abdomen of species in the genus. The species name heterosticta is derived from the Greek ἕτερος (heteros, "different") and στικτός (stiktos, "spotted" or "tattooed"), referring to the differently coloured pterostigma on the forewings and hindwings.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ischnura heterosticta in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 201963.