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 at larger ponds and lakes, and sometimes rivers as well. They fly from late May through September (with stragglers into October, weather permitting).
Another 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 to species.
Blue-fronted Dancers usually fly from late May through September. However, I have one notably late sighting: October 29, 2016. The weather was an unseasonable 81 degrees that day!
This Blue-ringed Dancer was photographed in Adams County, Ohio. Blue-ringed Dancers have only one close look-alike species in Ohio, the Paiute Dancer. (See my page on Paiute Dancers for tips on how to distinguish them.)
Male Blue-fronted Dancer. This is another common and widespread species.
