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Sticker of Vivid dancer
Bug card No. 1413 of 1,500

Vivid dancer

Argia vivida

The vivid dancer is a slim damselfly, usually bright blue. It can change its colour with the weather: when it is warm it turns light blue, and when it is cool it turns darker. It is the state insect of Nevada in the United States.

Lives in
North and Central America, near springs and in forests with sunny clearings
Top speed
about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Damselflies have no sting and do not hurt people.
What does it eat?
The grown-up catches mosquitoes, flies, mayflies and even small moths. Its babies live in water and eat mosquito and mayfly larvae.
For real!Photo of Vivid dancer
Picture by Eugene Zelenko. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Some females are red or brown instead of blue.

2

At night it rests up in the trees to keep warm, and in the day it flies to sunny spots to sunbathe.

3

The mother lays her eggs on water plants just below the surface.

4

In warm springs it grows up in about one year, but in cold springs it can take two or three years.

5

Males sit in sunny spots and dart out at females to get their attention.

you asked

Most asked questions about Vivid dancer

?Why does the vivid dancer change colour?

Its colour changes with the temperature. It is lighter when warm and darker when cool.

?What does the vivid dancer eat?

Small soft flying insects like mosquitoes, flies and small moths.

?Is the vivid dancer a dragonfly?

It is a damselfly, a slimmer cousin of dragonflies.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Argia vivida
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Coenagrionidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Coenagrionidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Argia vivida (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Eugene Zelenko. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Dragonflies and damselflies

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores