Ischnura asiatica is a small East Asian damselfly and the most common damselfly in South Korea. It isn't found in the US; it belongs to the same genus as the American forktails, such as the Eastern Forktail. Males have a single bright blue segment near the tip of a mostly black abdomen.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A tiny damselfly with an abdomen about 0.8–1 in (2–2.5 cm) long. Males have a black-topped abdomen with the ninth segment blue. Newly emerged females are reddish all over and turn a dull grass-green as they mature.
Look-alikes
Common BluetailIschnura senegalensis
In males, check which segment near the tail tip is blue: segment 9 in Ischnura asiatica, segment 8 in the Common Bluetail. The Common Bluetail also has blue, male-like females, which Ischnura asiatica lacks.
Why they get mixed upWhere they live together in East Asia, the two are almost the same size and shape, and both have a blue tail tip.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Ponds
- Marshes
- Rice paddies
- Ditches
- Range
- Native to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It doesn't occur in the wild in the United States.
- Preferred conditions
- Lives around still or slow water with plenty of water plants, such as ponds, wetlands, paddies, and irrigation channels.
Behavior
- Activity
- In Korea and Japan adults fly from spring into fall, with two or more generations a year. Spring adults are noticeably larger than late-summer ones.
- Overwintering
- Spends the winter as a larva underwater.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Females insert eggs one at a time into the stems of water plants.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
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