Agriocnemis pygmaea

{{Speciesbox

| name = Pygmy wisp

| image = Agriocnemis pygmaea male, Burdwan, West Bengal, India 14 03 2012.jpg

| image_caption = Male

| image2 = Agriocnemis pygmaea female, Burdwan, West Bengal, India 11 10 2012.jpg

| image2_caption = Female

| status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Subramanian, K.A. |date=2020 |title=Agriocnemis pygmaea |volume=2020 |page=e.T167280A83374189 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T167280A83374189.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}

| taxon = Agriocnemis pygmaea

| authority = (Rambur, 1842){{Cite book|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61025298/f300.image|title=Histoire naturelle des insectes. Névroptères|language=fr|last=Rambur|first=Jules|publisher=Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret|year=1842|location=Paris|pages=534 [278]|via=Gallica}}

| range_map = Agriocnemis pygmaea distribution map.svg

| synonyms =

Agriocnemis australis Selys, 1877
Agriocnemis hyacinthus Tillyard, 1913
Agriocnemis velaris Hagen, 1882
Agrion pygmaeum Rambur, 1842
Agrion kagiensis Matsumura, 1911

}}

Agriocnemis pygmaea{{World Odonata List}} (pygmy wisp){{Cite book|title=The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia|last1=Theischinger|first1=Günther|last2=Hawking|first2=John|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-0-64309-073-6|location=Collingwood, Victoria, Australia|pages=102}} is a species of damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae.{{Cite web|url=https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Agriocnemis_pygmaea|title=Species Agriocnemis pygmaea (Rambur, 1842)|date=2012|website=Australian Faunal Directory|publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study|access-date=6 April 2017}}

It is also known as wandering midget, pygmy dartlet or wandering wisp. It is well distributed across Asia and parts of Australia.{{cite book |last1=K.A. |first1=Subramanian |last2=K.G. |first2=Emiliyamma |last3=R. |first3=Babu |last4=C. |first4=Radhakrishnan |last5=S.S. |first5=Talmale |title=Atlas of Odonata (Insecta) of the Western Ghats, India |date=2018 |publisher=Zoological Survey of India |isbn=9788181714954|pages=142–143}}

Description and habitat

It is a small damselfly with black capped green eyes, black thorax with apple green stripes on lateral sides. Segments 1 to 7 of its abdomen is black on dorsum and pale green on ventral half. The remaining segments are orange-red. Very old males may get pruinosed on the dorsum of the head and the thorax with snowy white, making all the markings beneath being quite obscured. Female is more robust and exhibits several color morphs. The green color of the male is replaced by red in the females in the red forms. In androchrome forms, the female has same green colors as in the male. Female colour variation is depended on ontogenic colour change

associated with sexual development too.{{cite journal |last1=Joshi |first1=Shantanu |last2=Agashe |first2=Deepa |title=Ontogenic colour change, survival, and mating in the damselfly Agriocnemis pygmaea Rambur (Insecta: Odonata) |journal=Ecological Entomology |date=2020 |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=1015–1024 |doi=10.1111/een.12879 |bibcode=2020EcoEn..45.1015J |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/een.12879 |access-date=1 May 2020|url-access=subscription }}

It breeds in marshes and ponds.{{cite book|author=C FC Lt. Fraser|author-link=Frederic Charles Fraser|title=The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, Odonata Vol. I|publisher=Taylor and Francis|location=Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London|year=1933|pages=[https://archive.org/details/FraserOdonata1/page/n411 398]-401|url=https://archive.org/details/FraserOdonata1}}{{cite book|author=C FC Lt. Fraser|author-link=Frederic Charles Fraser|title=A Survey of the Odonate (Dragonfly) Fauna of Western India and Descriptions of Thirty New Species|year=1924|pages=490|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/PDFVolumes/records/026/05/0423-0522.pdf}}{{cite book|last=Subramanian|first=K. A.|title=Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide|year=2005|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/Publications/Overview/Dragonflies}}{{cite web

|url=http://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/226522|title=Agriocnemis pygmaea Rambur, 1842|publisher=India Biodiversity Portal|access-date=2017-02-26}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.indianodonata.org/sp/354/Agriocnemis-pygmaea|title=Agriocnemis pygmaea Rambur, 1842|publisher=Odonata of India, v. 1.00. Indian Foundation for Butterflies|access-date=2017-02-26}}

Etymology

The species name pygmaea is from the Greek word for pygmy. In 1842, Jules Pierre Rambur, writing in Latin, started his description of this damselfly: Minimum obscure viridi aenum - very small dark green copper.{{cite book |last1=Endersby |first1=Ian |last2=Fliedner |first2=Heinrich |title=The Naming of Australia's Dragonflies |date=2015 |publisher=Busybird Publishing |location=Eltham, Victoria, Australia |isbn=9781925260625 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283318421}}