Blue Featherleg

Platycnemis pennipes

The Blue Featherleg is a pretty dragonfly with bright blue legs and a shiny body. It loves to fly around near water and is often seen resting on plants.

Hábitat: Wetlands

Aspecto

The Blue Featherleg is a striking insect, often featuring a bright sky-blue body for males and duller tones for females. It has distinctly widened, flattened white lower leg segments on its middle and hind legs, giving it a unique 'feathered' appearance. This damselfly typically holds its two pairs of clear wings together over its back when at rest.

ReinoAnimaliaFiloArthropodaClaseInsectaOrdenOdonataFamiliaPlatycnemididaeGéneroPlatycnemis

Blue Featherleg

Categoría

Insectos

Rareza

Common

Peligro

1/5 · Muy bajo

Snaps

¡Sé la primera persona en hacer un snap!

Datos interesantes

Blue Featherlegs can fly backwards and sideways, not just forwards!

Males have special white 'feathered' legs they show off to attract a mate!

Their amazing eyes have thousands of tiny lenses, helping them see almost all around them!

Their babies (nymphs) live in water and breathe with gills, like fish!

Habilidades especiales

Blue Featherleg has uniquely widened, white lower leg segments that help them signal to mates and rivals.

Blue Featherleg can spend years as a gill-breathing nymph underwater, helping them develop safely before flying.

Blue Featherleg can fly with incredible agility, catching tiny flying insects mid-air that helps them find food.

Blue Featherleg has enormous compound eyes that help them spot tiny prey and avoid predators from almost any angle.

Medidas y detalles

Envergadura: 45-60 mm
Tamaño: 35-40 mm
Esperanza de vida: 30-60 días
Velocidad de vuelo: 10 km/h
Cantidad de patas: 6

Dieta y alimentación

Tiny flying insects are the favorite meal of the adult Blue Featherleg, while their young hunt underwater.

Diferencias por edad: Nymphs hunt aquatic invertebrates underwater; adults catch flying insects in the air.

Alimentos principales

mosquitoes
midges
small flies
mayflies

Métodos de búsqueda

Pursuit
Ambush

Conexiones ecológicas

eats

Water flea

Daphnia pulex

Nymphs prey on tiny zooplankton.

eats

Common house mosquito

Culex pipiens

Adults catch these flying insects.

eaten by

Common frog

Rana temporaria

Frogs can snatch them near water.

eaten by

Spotted Flycatcher

Muscicapa striata

Birds hunt them in flight.

Rasgos

Solitario

Los animales solitarios viven solos durante la mayor parte de su vida y solo interactúan con otros para aparearse o cuidar de sus crías.

Aéreo

Las criaturas aéreas pasan una parte importante de su vida en el aire, utilizando el vuelo para diversas actividades como la caza, la migración o la anidación.

Colorido

Colorido describe a organismos u objetos que exhiben una amplia variedad de colores brillantes y distintivos.

Insectívoro

Este rasgo identifica a los organismos cuya dieta consiste principalmente en insectos y otros pequeños invertebrados.

Humedal

Este rasgo de hábitat identifica especies que se encuentran en humedales, que son áreas de tierra saturadas de agua, ya sea permanente o estacionalmente, e incluyen marismas, pantanos y ciénagas.