Powdered dancer

The powdered dancer (Argia moesta) is a damselfly of the family Coenagrionidae. It is native to North America. It may be seen year-round in at least some of its range.[5]

Powdered dancer

Secure  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Family: Coenagrionidae
Genus: Argia
Species:
A. moesta
Binomial name
Argia moesta
(Hagen, 1861) [3]
Range of A. moesta [4]

Etymology

The common name refers directly to the male's pruinosity, appearing to be covered with a powdery blue or grayish substance. Older males are more pruinose, and may even be more ash white than blue. The specific epithet moesta, means sorrowful,[6]: 12  and may refer to customs (such as those on Ash Wednesday) of dusting oneself with ashes to express sorrow or mourning.

Description
Powdered dancer (Argia moesta)

Males have a blue tip at the end of the abdomen. Immature (freshly moulted, or teneral) males are tan to dark brown, turning darker with age and becoming almost completely whitish (pruinose) at maturity. [7]: 62–63  Females come in blue and brown forms based on the color of the thorax, which has hair thin dark shoulder stripes. [8] The blue form female is very similar to the female blue-fronted dancer; a key to separating these two is the number of cells below the stigma: our species has two cells below the stigma where a blue-fronted dancer has one. [9]

  • teneral male
    teneral male
  • mature male
    mature male
  • brown form female
    brown form female
  • blue form female
    blue form female

Breeding

During mating, a male uses claspers at the end of his abdomen to grab a female between the head and thorax, forming a tandem. The female then bends her abdomen to engage segments 2–3 of the male, where sperm is stored, forming a heart-shaped "mating wheel". Both sexes can change color during mating. [7]: 5–6  [10] The pair often remains attached until eggs are laid by the female. The female finds a shallow aquatic plant and uses her ovipositor to insert her eggs in dead or live tissue while guarded by her mate. [11]

  • pair in tandem
    pair in tandem
  • mating wheel
    mating wheel
  • ovipositing
    ovipositing

References
  1. Paulson, D.R. (2017). "Argia moesta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T165038A65827364. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T165038A65827364.en. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  2. NatureServe (2 June 2023). "Argia moesta". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  3. "Argia moesta". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  4. "Distribution Viewer". OdonataCentral. Retrieved December 5, 2009.
  5. Abbott, John C. (2005). Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States. Princeton University Press. pp. 77–78. ISBN 0-691-11364-5.
  6. Paulson, Dennis R.; Dunkle, Sidney W. (12 February 2021) [Originally published June 1999]. "A Checklist of North American Odonata" (PDF). Jim Johnson. Retrieved 6 June 2023 – via Odonata Central.
  7. Dubois, Bob (2005). Damselflies of the North Woods. Kollath-Stensaas Publishing. ISBN 0967379377.
  8. "powdered dancer (Argia moesta)". MinnesotaSeasons.
  9. "Argia moesta Powdered Dancer". Wisconsin Odonata Survey. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
  10. Suhling, Frank; Sahlén, Göran; et al. (2015). "Chapter 35 - Order Odonata". In Thorp, James H.; Rogers, D. Christopher (eds.). Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates (Fourth ed.). Elsevier. p. 893-932. doi:10.1016/C2010-0-65590-8. ISBN 978-0-12-385026-3.
  11. Paulson, Dennis (2011). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton University Press. pp. 151–153. ISBN 978-1-4008-3966-7.


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