Aztec Dancer

Argia nahuana

The Aztec Dancer is a beautiful dragonfly with bright colors. It loves to flutter around near water, showing off its amazing flying skills. Watching it dance in the air is like seeing a tiny rainbow!

Habitat: Wetlands

Appearance

The Aztec Dancer is a slender damselfly, usually bright blue with black markings on its abdomen and thorax, especially in males. Its clear, delicate wings are held together over its back when resting, unlike dragonflies. Females are typically duller, often greenish-brown or bluish-gray.

KingdomAnimaliaPhylumArthropodaClassInsectaOrderOdonataFamilyCoenagrionidaeGenusArgia

Aztec Dancer

Interesting facts

Aztec Dancer babies live underwater for months or even years before flying!

Male Aztec Dancers perform dazzling aerial dances to attract a mate!

They can eat hundreds of tiny annoying mosquitoes in just one day!

When an Aztec Dancer grows up, it leaves its old skin behind clinging to a plant!

Special abilities

Aztec Dancer can quickly change direction in mid-air because of its agile wings that help them hunt flying insects.

Its nymphs (young Aztec Dancers) can breathe underwater using gills that helps them hunt tiny aquatic prey.

Aztec Dancer has huge compound eyes that helps them spot prey and predators from almost any direction.

Aztec Dancer can dart quickly through dense vegetation because of its slender body, helping it evade predators.

Measurements & details

Wingspan: 40-55 mm
Size: 30-38 mm
Lifespan: 30-60 days
Flight Speed: 10 km/h
Leg Count: 6

Diet & Feeding

Tiny flying insects are on the menu for this speedy hunter, keeping mosquito populations in check!

Age differences: Young Aztec Dancers (nymphs) eat aquatic insects, while adults hunt flying insects in the air.

Primary Foods

mosquitoes
gnats
small flies
midges
mayflies

Foraging Method

Pursuit

Ecological connections

hunts

common mosquito

Culex pipiens

Adults help control mosquito populations.

eaten by

common green darner

Anax junius

Larger dragonflies sometimes prey on smaller damselflies.

eaten by

American bullfrog

Lithobates catesbeianus

Frogs prey on adult damselflies near water.

eaten by

western mosquitofish

Gambusia affinis

Fish eat damselfly nymphs in the water.

Traits

Aerial

Aerial creatures spend a significant portion of their lives airborne, utilizing flight for various activities such as hunting, migration, or nesting.

Colorful

Colorful describes organisms or objects displaying a wide range of bright and distinct colors.

Insectivorous

This trait identifies organisms whose diet primarily consists of insects and other small invertebrates.

Pollinator Magnet

Describes plants that are particularly attractive and beneficial to a wide range of pollinating organisms.

Wetland

This habitat trait identifies species found in wetlands, which are areas of land saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, including marshes, swamps, and bogs.