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Sticker of Sparkling jewelwing
Bug card No. 4062 of 4,939

Sparkling jewelwing

Calopteryx dimidiata
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsDragonflies and damselfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The sparkling jewelwing is a damselfly with a shiny blue-green body that glitters like a jewel. The male has wings that look as if their tips were dipped in black ink. It flutters along sandy forest streams in the eastern United States.

Lives in
The eastern and southeastern United States, by forest streams
Length
3.7 to 5 cm (1.5 to 2 in)
Top speed
about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Damselflies have no sting, so you can just watch it flutter by.
What does it eat?
It catches small flying insects. Its babies live under water and hunt tiny water animals.
For real!Photo of Sparkling jewelwing
Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Sparkling jewelwing about 5 cm long (2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 32 secondsmoves 67 times its own body length every second

How big is Sparkling jewelwing compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is one of the smallest damselflies in its family.

2

Young adults have reddish eyes. Grown-ups have brown eyes.

3

Males guard a small patch of stream and chase away other males.

4

The female climbs down a plant stem into the water and stays under for about fifteen minutes, laying several hundred eggs.

5

In Florida it flies from February to November, but in New Jersey only from May to September.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sparkling jewelwing

?Is the sparkling jewelwing dangerous?

No. Damselflies have no sting and are harmless to people.

?How big is the sparkling jewelwing?

It is about 4 to 5 centimetres long, a little shorter than your finger.

?Where can I see a sparkling jewelwing?

Along sandy forest streams with lots of plants on the banks, in the eastern United States.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Calopteryx dimidiata
Group
Dragonflies and damselflies
Family
Calopterygidae
Classification
Insecta > Odonata > Calopterygidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Calopteryx dimidiata (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 Judy Gallagher. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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