Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Taxobox
name = Small Red-eyed Damselfly


image_caption = "Erythromma viridulum" (male)
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Odonata
subordo = Zygoptera
familia = Coenagrionidae
genus = "Erythromma"
species = "E. viridulum"
binomial = "Erythromma viridulum"
binomial_authority = (Charpentier, 1840)

Small Red-eyed Damselfly "Erythromma viridulum" is a member of the damselfly family Coenagrionidae. It is a much smaller version of the Red-eyed Damselfly, but otherwise very similar.

Appearance

The species is a small damselfly, predominantly black with iridescent blue markings. Its large, spaced eyes are a deep red. Like the Red-eyed Damselfly, both sexes lack pale spots behind the eyes and have pale brown pterostigmata.The male has a bronze-black top and blue sides. The sides of the female's thorax are yellow, green or blue. The rear edge of the pronotum is rounded.

Breeding

This damselfly breeds in ponds, lakes and ditches, and in continental Europe, sluggish rivers. It seems to be well able to tolerate brackish water.

Eggs are laid while in tandem, into the stems and leaves of floating plants. Tha larvae live amongst pondweed and probably emerge after a year.

Behaviour

Mating occurs either on floating plants or at the margins. When perched on floating plants, males hold their abdomen slightly upcurved (the Red-eyed Damselfly holds it straight).

Colonisation of Britain

The populations of this species in northwest Europe increased in the latter part of the 20th Century and in 1999, the species was recorded in Britain for the first time. It has since increased its range considerably and become an established breeding resident.

The first British record was in Essex on 17 July 1999 and is documented in Dewick and Gerussi (2000). Breeding was finally proven in 2002.

References

* Dewick, Stephen and Richard Gerussi (2000) Small Red-eyed Damselfly "Erythromma viridulum" (Charpentier) Found Breeding in Essex - The First British Records Atropos No. 9 pp.3-4

External links