Powdered dancer
{{Short description|Species of damselfly}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Powdered_Dancer_Argia_moesta_2009-05-25.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status2 = G5
| status2_system = TNC
| genus = Argia
| species = moesta
| authority = (Hagen, 1861) {{ITIS |id=102146 |taxon=Argia moesta}}
| range_map = North_America_Range_Argia_moesta.svg
| range_map_caption = Range of A. moesta {{Cite web
| title = Distribution Viewer
| publisher = OdonataCentral
| url = http://www.odonatacentral.org/index.php/MapAction.windowed
| accessdate = December 5, 2009}}
}}
The powdered dancer (Argia moesta) is a damselfly of the family Coenagrionidae. It is native to North America. It may be seen year-round in at least some of its range.{{Cite book
|title=Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States
|last=Abbott |first=John C. |year=2005
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|isbn=0-691-11364-5 |pages=77–78}}
Etymology
The common name refers directly to the male's pruinosity, appearing to be covered with a powdery blue or grayish substance. Older males are more pruinose, and may even be more ash white than blue. The specific epithet moesta, means sorrowful,{{Cite web| title = A Checklist of North American Odonata|last1=Paulson|first1=Dennis R.|last2 = Dunkle | first2=Sidney W.
|date=12 February 2021|orig-date=Originally published June 1999|publisher=Jim Johnson|url=https://www.odonatacentral.org/public/media/uploads/files/NA_Odonata_Checklist_2021_update.pdf|access-date=6 June 2023|via=Odonata Central}}{{rp|12}} and may refer to customs (such as those on Ash Wednesday) of dusting oneself with ashes to express sorrow or mourning.
Description
File:Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) female.jpg
Males have a blue tip at the end of the abdomen. Immature (freshly moulted, or teneral) males are tan to dark brown, turning darker with age and becoming almost completely whitish (pruinose) at maturity.
|last1=Dubois
|first1=Bob
|date=2005
|title=Damselflies of the North Woods
|publisher=Kollath-Stensaas Publishing
|url=https://www.kollathstensaas.com/book.php?bookID=9
|isbn=0967379377
}}{{rp|62–63}}
Females come in blue and brown forms based on the color of the thorax, which has hair thin dark shoulder stripes.
|url=http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Insects/powdered_dancer.html
|title=powdered dancer (Argia moesta)
|website=MinnesotaSeasons
}}
The blue form female is very similar to the female blue-fronted dancer; a key to separating these two is the number of cells below the stigma: our species has two cells below the stigma where a blue-fronted dancer has one.
|url=https://wiatri.net/inventory/odonata/speciesaccounts/SpeciesDetail.cfm?TaxaID=27
|title=Argia moesta Powdered Dancer
|publisher=Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
|website=Wisconsin Odonata Survey
}}
Argia moesta-male teneral.jpg|teneral male
Argia moesta-male pruinose.jpg|mature male
Argia moesta-female brown form.jpg|brown form female
Argia moesta-female blue form.jpg|blue form female
Breeding
During mating, a male uses claspers at the end of his abdomen to grab a female between the head and thorax, forming a tandem. The female then bends her abdomen to engage segments 2–3 of the male, where sperm is stored, forming a heart-shaped "mating wheel". Both sexes can change color during mating.
|last1=Suhling
|first1=Frank
|last2=Sahlén
|first2=Göran
|last3=Gorb
|first3=Stanislav
|last4=Kalkman
|first4=Vincent J.
|last5=Dijkstra
|first5=Klaas-Douwe B.
|last6=Tol
|first6=Janvan
|display-authors=2
|editor1-last=Thorp
|editor1-first=James H.
|editor2-last=Rogers
|editor2-first=D. Christopher
|date=2015
|title=Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates
|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123850263/thorp-and-covichs-freshwater-invertebrates
|pages=893–932
|chapter=Chapter 35 - Order Odonata
|chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123850263000358
|publisher=Elsevier
|isbn=978-0-12-385026-3
|doi=10.1016/C2010-0-65590-8
|edition=Fourth
}}
The pair often remains attached until eggs are laid by the female. The female finds a shallow aquatic plant and uses her ovipositor to insert her eggs in dead or live tissue while guarded by her mate.
Argia moesta-tandem.jpg|pair in tandem
Argia moesta-mating wheel.jpg|mating wheel
Argia moesta-ovipositing.jpg|ovipositing
References
External links
- [http://bugguide.net/node/view/2640 Argia moesta] on BugGuide.Net
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1634066}}
Category:Odonata of North America
Category:Insects of the United States
Category:Fauna of the Eastern United States
Category:Fauna of the Western United States
Category:Insects described in 1861
{{Coenagrionidae-stub}}