blue-tipped dancer

blue-tipped dancer (Argia tibialis) [female] [male]
Photos © Mary Kay Rubey

FEATURES
The blue-tipped dancer is known for its dark, vivid markings. Males have dark brown over tan, blue-tinged eyes with small to nonexistent spots behind the eyes. This sometimes appears like a dashed line in younger individuals. Males have deep purple thorax with a narrow middle stripe and broader stripes on their white sides. The abdomen is nearly all black with pale rings on the fifth through seventh segments, followed by the all-blue ninth and tenth segments. Paired males have dull red-purple thorax, also typical of cooler climate individuals. Females can have multiple appearances.  Some are entirely brown; or some with the head, thorax, and abdomen marked with bright blue. Females have dark brown over tan or green-grey eyes. The female thorax is similar to the male with a narrow middle stripe and broader side stripes. The female abdomen is mostly black with pale grey at the tip of the tail on segments nine and ten.

BEHAVIOR
Males perch on shady rocks and vegetation beside streams, or hover over the water. Females sun on woodland grounds. Both males and females prefer vegetation to rocks. Pairs lay eggs in large clumps on floating leaves, twigs, rootlets, or wet wood above the water’s surface. They roam eastern forests with slow sandy streams among woodlands. They are also found in degraded or urban streams. They range throughout Illinois. The range goes north into the southern half of Wisconsin, south into the northern half of Florida, and west into east Texas.

​Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Coenagrionidae