29-9-2021 TANCAT DE MILLA, VALENCIA - IBERIAN BLUE TAIL DAMSELFLY (Ischnura graellsii)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/103492-Ischnura-graellsii

3-9-2021 TANCAT DE MILIA, VALENCIA - IBERIAN BLUE TAIL DAMSELFLY (Ischnura graellsii)

A fairly slender species, the posterior edge of the prothorax with a well-marked but slightly raised median tubercle; the forewings and hindwings have a similarly sized pterostigma, bicolor in the male; the abdomen is dorsally bronzed black, the 2nd segment of which bears a well-marked dorsal tubercle, and the 8th and part of the 9th segments are sky-blue in the male and greyish or greenish in the female; the 10th segment of the male bears a thick dorsal tubercle.

Anal appendages: the cercoids are shorter than the cerci, uncrossed, with a sharp tip and an internal branch longer than the internal part; the cerci have an internal expansion.

Dimensions

Abdomen, 20–23 mm; hindwing, 12–16 mm.

Abdomen, 21–23 mm; hindwing, 14–16 mm.

Distribution is the  Iberian Peninsula; North Africa (north of the Atlas Mountains).

Widely distributed across most of the Iberian Peninsula, it is the most common and abundant zygopteran in many areas.

The larvae, which are almost always found in stagnant waters (ditches, ponds, marshes, etc.), can tolerate slightly brackish waters.

The flight period of this species, very common in the Iberian Peninsula, extends from March to September.