BLUE-RINGED AND BLUE-FRONTED Dancers
Male Blue-ringed Dancer. The stripes on the thorax are a deep, royal blue, and the rings along the abdomen are a lighter shade of blue.
Blue-ringed Dancers are fairly common. They fly from late May through September (with stragglers into October, weather permitting).
Male Blue-fronted Dancer. The thorax is nearly solid blue except for a few thin black stripes.
Female Blue-fronted Dancer. Several brown female damselflies are difficult to distinguish from one another.
Blue-fronted Dancers usually fly from late May through September. However, I have one notably late sighting: October 29, 2016 at Spring Lakes Park. (The weather was an unseasonable 81 degrees that day!)
This Blue-ringed Dancer was hanging out in curly grass at Spring Lakes Park in Bellbrook. Until 2018, Blue-ringed Dancers were not known to have any close look-alikes in our area. In 2018, it was discovered that we have Paiute Dancers in Ohio. (See my page on Paiute Dancers for tips on how to distinguish them.)
Male Blue-fronted Dancer. This is another common and widespread species.
