Enallagma civile
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The familiar bluet (Enallagma civile) is a narrow-winged damselfly of the family Coenagrionidae, which is native to much of the United States and southern Canada. In a broader sense, it is a part of the order Odonata. It is an order that consists of predatory flying insects, such as dragonflies and damselflies. Damselflies are structurally similar to dragonflies, except damselflies have a slimmer body and they have widely-separated eyes; whereas dragonflies have larger eyes that nearly touch.
The familiar bluet have been found to reside in natural or artificially-made ponds, or simply places where bodies of non-polluted freshwater and vegetation are located: lakes, ponds, or slow streams. The familiar bluet is generally less tolerant of significant chemical imbalances, thus helping to indicate pure water quality. It has a torpedo-shaped thorax that tapers into a slender abdomen, separated by an average of 10 segments, and it is on average 30-39 mm in length. The familiar bluet has a striking resemblance to the tule bluet, bearing the same sky-blue and black bodies, but differs due to the less heavy black coloration on the abdomen and thorax.
Familiar bluets display sexual dimorphism. Male familiar bluets have a distinct bright, blue color that covers the majority of its head and body and has jet-black spots that cover the dorsal portion of its eyes, segments and upper abdomen. Females are polymorphic; they may appear in nature as a pale blue or an olive-tan color.
The life cycle of damselflies is an incomplete metamorphosis. Once the familiar bluets hatch from their eggs, they are in their nymphal stage, where they will spend the majority of the lifetime molting and developing important adult anatomical structures. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Familiar Bluet sighting in Phoenix on a given day, based on 43 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 67th most-seen of the 264 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Familiar Bluet in Phoenix on a given day, against under 5% in October to April, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Familiar Bluet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 24 cities where we can rate Familiar Bluet sightings, Phoenix ranks 5th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Austin (United States, about 10%), Dallas (United States, about 10%) and Denver (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Coenagrionidae
The closest relatives of the Familiar Bluet that you can see in Phoenix (family Coenagrionidae, Narrow-winged Damselflies) are Desert Forktail (about 10%), Rambur's Forktail (about 10%) and Blue-Ringed Dancer (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Familiar Bluet is recorded against all the insects logged in Phoenix (43 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.
