Ceriagrion tenellum (Small Red Damselfly)

One of the smaller damselflies and a relatively weak flier. It seems to have a somewhat sparse distribution i nthe UK, being limites to southern areas and south-west Wales. Some of our spots come from the New Forest.

“The Small Red is all red” stands you in good stead – for the male, at least. Tenerals and females are a little trickier, of course; the females come in three forms.

Id Notes

  • thorax is bronze-black dorsally
  • ♂ – red abdomen, eyes, legs and pterostigma
  • ♀ – typically bronze-black witih S2-3 and S9-10 mostly red (but there is an f. melangastrum dark form)
male female immature pair in cop

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