Wild Facts About The Variable Dancer Damselfly
Meet The Variable Dancer Damselfly
Have you ever noticed a tiny, skinny insect flying near a pond or stream? It might have been a Variable Dancer Damselfly, also known by its scientific name, Argia fumipennis. Often seen resting on plants close to the water, these delicate-looking insects are strong hunters are strong hunters that eat tiny insects like mosquitoes.
Read on to discover the Variable Dancer Damselfly—how to identify it, how to find it, and how it lives.
What’s In A Name?
This small, colorful insect is part of the Odonata order, which includes both damselflies and dragonflies. The Variable Dancer damselfly gets its common name for two reasons:
- It flies in a graceful, wave-like manner that looks like they’re dancing through the air.
- It varies in appearance across its range. Because of this, the “Variable Dancer damselfly” has several sub-species, including:
- Argia fumipennis violacea (found in the northern and western portions of its range),
- Argia fumipennis fumipennis (found in the southeast),
- Argia fumipennis atra (found in Florida) (Paulson 2011).
How To Identify Variable Dancer Damselflies
Variable Dancers are small, usually growing to about 1.3 inches (34 mm) in length with hind wings around 0.9 inches (23 mm).
Mature males have:
- Two-toned eyes: brown on top and violet below.
- A violet thorax with a black, forked shoulder stripe
- A violet abdomen with black rings around segments S3-S8, a blue S9, and a violet S10
Females can look like males, or they can have:
- Brown eyes,
- Brown to reddish-brown bodies.
The name “Variable Dancer” fits well, because individual damselflies look different depending on where they live. For example, northeastern Variable Dancers (A. f. violacea) have clear wings. Southeaster Variable Dancers (A. f. fumipennis) have dark wings.
Where To Find Variable Dancer Damselflies
Look for Variable Dancer damselflies in and on plants around freshwater ponds and lakes.
They prefer sunny areas and often perch on leaves near the water’s edge.
- Damselflies and dragonflies are heavily parasitized by a variety of parasites, including larval water mites.
- Larval water mites attack adult odonates and dissolve their body tissues. The mites then feed on the dissolved tissue and the insects’ hemolymph.
- Different odonate species seem to be more susceptible to gaining parasites than others.
- Damsel and dragonflies try to fight off parasite infestation by walling off the mites, which then causes the mites to starve.
- Argia fumipennis (Variable Dancers) was “one of the most heavily parasitized species in our study, with a prevalence rate of 20.2%”, and “exhibited the greatest resistance prevalence (90%) and resistance intensity (98%)” (Worthen and Hart 2016, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iew022).
Small Insects With Even Tinier Parasites
Like other insects in the Pond Damsel family (Coenagrionidae), Variable Dancers play an important role in nature. They are both predators themselves and prey for other predators, like birds and dragonflies.
But they also get attacked by even tinier creatures—parasites.
One common parasite that infects Variable Dancer damselflies is the larval water mite. These tiny mites first attach themselves to adult damselflies. Then the mites dissolve the damselflies’ body tissues, and then drink their hemolymph.
Variable Dancers seem susceptible to mite infestation. In one study, they were “one of the most heavily parasitized species in our study, with a prevalence rate of 20.2%” (Worthen and Hart 2016, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iew022).
It’s an alarming situation, but Variable Dancers fight back. Their bodies try to trap or wall off the mites to starve them.
In the same study, Variable Dancers “exhibited the greatest resistance prevalence (90%) and resistance intensity (98%)” to their mites (Worthen and Hart 2016, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iew022).
This shows that even though they are small, Variable Dancers are tough.
Variable Dancer Damselfly Classification
|
Phylum |
Arthropoda |
|
Class |
Insecta |
|
Order |
Odonata |
|
Family |
Coenagrionidae (Pond Damsel Family) |
|
Genus |
Argia |
|
Species |
A. fumipennis |
Binomial Name |
Argia fumipennis |
Conclusion
The Variable Dancer Damselfly is a small but important insect. Fewer of them live in the wild compared to other damselflies like the Blue-Fronted Dancer Damselfly (Argia apicalis), but their beauty adds a lot to walks along rivers, lakes, and streams. More than that, it helps control bugs like mosquitoes, making it helpful to both people and nature.
The next time you’re near water, look closely—you might spot one of these lovely damselflies dancing through the air, like lovely flying black and purple needles.
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