Ischnura ramburii
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Rambur's forktail (Ischnura ramburii) is a member of the damselfly family Coenagrionidae. Males are green with blue on abdominal segments 8 and 9. Females are orange-red, olive green, or similar to males in coloration. This is the most widespread New World Ischnura, occurring throughout the Americas from the United States to Chile, as well as Hawaii and the Antilles. The damselfly is a beneficial insect which is a predator of mosquitos and other insects and is not harmful to humans.
Ponds, lakes, marshes, and slow streams with vegetation and sunlight are its main habitat. Damselfly nymphs never live in salt water, but I. ramburii nymphs have been observed in brackish and even sulphurous waters. John Edward Lloyd qualified the mating of this species as "enigmatic": the male grasps the female's head with the terminal appendages of its abdomen while the female seeks and absorbs the sperm with its gonopore. He hypothesised that this "wheel" could have evolved in order to prevent females from escaping during the copulation.
Edmond de Sélys Longchamps named this damselfly in honor of Jules Pierre Rambur, an entomologist 12 years his senior. Rambur... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 5 | Biotopo Cerro Cahuí | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 6 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 7 | Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 8 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 12 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 2 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 7 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rambur's Forktail sighting in Boston on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 888th most-seen of the 1200 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rambur's Forktail in Boston on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rambur's Forktail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 15
Of the 15 cities where we can rate Rambur's Forktail sightings, Boston ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic, about 20%), Miami (United States, about 20%) and Orlando (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Ischnura
The closest relatives of the Rambur's Forktail that you can see in Boston (genus Ischnura, Forktails) are Fragile Forktail (about 10%) and Eastern Forktail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rambur's Forktail is recorded against all the insects logged in Boston (10 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
