Tule Bluet

 

On 13 August 2020, after a couple of days of unsuccessful dragonfly hunting, Erika and I found several Tule Bluets. These damselflies flew in tandem, with the male protecting his mate from competing males by holding on to the back of the female’s neck. Dennis Paulson writes me that Tule Bluets are the most common bluet in most of Washington. The species tolerates various human-modified habitats. Unlike Northern and Boreal bluets, the Tule is relatively easy to identify (at least in Washington). Compared to other species, males sport more black on their central abdominal segments. The first segment appears to have a mushroom-shaped black dorsal spot. The female’s eight abdominal segment is dorsally black. Paulson (2011) writes that Tule Bluets deposit their eggs on submerged plants and sometimes on rushes, even a foot above water. Larvae live for over a year and go through almost a dozen stages (instars). They overwinter in one of their later instars. Tule Bluets are common across northeastern and western North America south to Baja California.