Vivid Dancer

Fascinating facts about the Vivid Dancer

• Two distinct populations of vivid dancer damselflies in British Columbia display a clear female colour dimorphism, with individuals belonging to either a blue or a red morph. Both colour forms are found within the same species, showing that the variation is not linked to separate taxa. The blue morph retains a typical bright blue hue, while the red morph exhibits a reddish tone, and each can be observed side by side in the same habitats.
• When shade temperatures rise above 25 °C the damselfly enters a bright phase, a physiological colour shift driven by the heat. In this state males and blue-morph females change to a lighter shade of blue with pale blue or blue-grey markings, making them appear more vivid. Red-morph females simultaneously turn red-brown or brown with tan or grey-tan markings, providing a distinct contrast to the darker phase seen at cooler temperatures.
• At shade temperatures around 18 °C the species switches to a dark phase, another temperature-dependent colour change. During this phase males and blue-morph females adopt a deeper blue shade, reducing their brightness, while red-morph females become grey-brown to brown, dulling their earlier reddish tones. This darker appearance helps the damselflies blend into cooler, shadowed environments.
• Eggs of the vivid dancer only begin to develop when water temperatures reach at least 11 °C, so cooler conditions halt reproduction. Females still deposit their eggs on submerged vegetation just below the surface, awaiting suitable warmth. The newly laid embryos are protected by the water, and the larvae can endure winter in temperatures as low as 0 °C and as high as 33 °C.
• In warm thermal springs the species completes its life cycle in about one year. In cooler springs development may stretch to two or three years.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Vivid Dancer

In the warm, sun-drenched realms of its native habitat, the Vivid Dancer, a damselfly of unbridled elegance, flits and weaves with an air of weightless abandon, its iridescent hues glimmering like shards of stained glass as it dances through the air. With a lithe, almost ethereal quality to its movements, this diminutive creature navigates the intricate tapestry of its world with a precision that belies its delicate appearance, its large, shimmering eyes drinking in every detail of its surroundings. As it alights upon a delicate blade of grass, its slender form seems to vibrate with an inner radiance, as if the very essence of the sun had been distilled into this tiny, whirring package of life.

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