DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF WEST VIRGINIA SPECIES PAGE
This species takes its common name from the peculiar black shoulder
stripe, which is divided in two by a thin blue stripe. This is the key identification
characteristic; no other damselfly has a shoulder stripe that looks like
this one.
Mature males have an abdomen that alternates black and blue. The final
segment of the abdomen is blue below and black above, while segments 8 and
9 are all blue.
Females and immatures are tan to olive or brown, but like the mature
males they have the divided shoulder stripe.
Double-striped Bluets are most typically found alongside lakes and ponds,
but are occasionally found next to slow-moving streams, too.
This species was first described from Texas, and lived chiefly in the
southwest, but over the last century it has expanded its range with relative
rapidity, and now reaches New York, Connecticut, and Ontario. In West Virginia,
the species is found in nearly corner of the state, except perhaps the higher
mountain areas.
The black shoulder stripe is divided in two by a
thin blue stripe. This is a mature male.
The eyespots are small and are connected by a thin
line.
The face is blue and black. In this photo, two of the ocelli,
or simple eyes, have caught the light.
On mature males segments 8 and 9 are blue, while segment 10 is black
on top.
