SPHAGNUM SPRITE
Male Sphagnum Sprite. These sprites are among our tiniest damselflies. They live in good quality wetlands. I find them at Siebenthaler Fen in June and early July.
Sphagnum Sprites can be difficult to find due to their small size. They lurk in dense vegetation.
This is a female Sphagnum Sprite. She has less blue at the tip of her abdomen than the males.
Another female Sphagnum Sprite at Siebenthaler Fen. Female Sphagnums look very similar to male Sedge Sprites. (I have not yet seen a Sedge Sprite, but they are known to occur in our area.)
Another male Sphagnum Sprite. The color pattern is somewhat reminiscent of an Eastern Forktail (green in front and blue at the tip). I have trained my eyes to ignore damselflies with this color pattern, because Eastern Forktails are so ubiquitous. But when seen close at hand, the two species are really not that similar. (Eastern Forktails are larger and have stripes on the thorax.)