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.

Habitat: Wetlands

Appearance

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.

KingdomAnimaliaPhylumArthropodaClassInsectaOrderOdonataFamilyPlatycnemididaeGenusPlatycnemis

Blue Featherleg

Interesting facts

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!

Special abilities

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.

Measurements & details

Wingspan: 45-60 mm
Size: 35-40 mm
Lifespan: 30-60 days
Flight Speed: 10 km/h
Leg Count: 6

Diet & Feeding

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

Age differences: Nymphs hunt aquatic invertebrates underwater; adults catch flying insects in the air.

Primary Foods

mosquitoes
midges
small flies
mayflies

Foraging Methods

Pursuit
Ambush

Ecological connections

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.

Traits

Solitary

Solitary animals live alone for most of their lives, only interacting with others for mating or parental care.

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.

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.