Wild Facts About The Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselfly

Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselfly

Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselfly Images

How To Identify Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies

• Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies grow to 1.6 inches (40 mm) in total body length, and 1.0 inch (25 mm) hind wing length.

Male Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies

• Male Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies have:
  • Blue eyes.
  • Blue thoraxes with no markings and only very thin, hairline black stripes along shoulder and down back.
    • Shoulder stripe has a black spot at the base.
    • Bright blue thoracic color darkens to purple or dark gray in cool temperatures or while in tandem (Abbott 2011).
  • Black abdomens tipped in bright blue on top and black stripe along the lower edge.

Female Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselfly

• Female Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies have:
  • Pale blue or brown faces and bodies.
  • Dark abdomens with alternating, lengthwise pale and dark side stripes.

Variations By Region

• Blue-Fronted Damselflies are distinguished by:
  • Bright blue thoraxes
  • A thin, black dorsal stripe
  • A thin, black humeral stripe

• Two variations of Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies exist (called “morphs”):
  • Dominant type:
    • Found throughout the southeastern United States
    • Has very thin black humeral stripe
  • Southeastern Florida type:
    • Found only in south Florida, especially Suwanee and Columbia counties
    • Has larger, wider black humeral stripe
• Genetic research confirmed that these two variations represent the same species; they just look slightly different from each other (Sisson et al. 2016, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24891072).
• Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselflies are not the only damselfly species that look different in different portions of their range. One of the most variable damselfly species is the Blue-Fronted Dancer’s cousin, the Variable Dancer Damselfly (Argia fumipennis).