Boreal Bluet / Agrion boréal
Enallagma boreale
Summary 2
Boreal Bluet / Agrion boréal
(Enallagma boreale)
*** See species description of Northern Bluet as well, as these two species are extremely similar and both are treated here in part ***
Adult sizes: Northern 29-36 mm; Boreal 28-36 mm
Status/Habitat: Widespread and common in New Brunswick. Found mostly in fishless ponds, bogs and fens, but also freshwater marshes.
Typical flight period: In New Brunswick, Northern and Boreal Bluets fly from the last week in May to the end of August. Boreal is most common in June and Northern most common in July, but both are emerging as early as late May (dates May 21st NB – September 15th PE).
ID hints: Both the Northern and the Boreal Bluets are medium-sized bluets virtually indistinguishable from each other at a distance, so need to be examined in hand to identify them. One can distinguish the males of E annexum vs. boreale by the shape of the claspers and the females from the mesostigmal plates (“shoulder pads”). The pinched, dark shoulder stripe is common in both species, setting them apart from the other bluets in our region, but occasionally even the shoulder stripe is not too pinched (such as in the male below), so do make a habit of taking a look in hand whenever possible (but not in a national park without a permit!)
Nature Notes: Both Northern and Boreal Bluets are found in the park. The Boreal Bluet seems to be the slightly more common of the two, at least as far as we can tell, six versus four site records and about twice as many specimens. These two species as well as the Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum) are found mostly associated with fishless ponds. More on this adaptation is discussed under the auspices of the latter species. It is interesting to note that Northern and Boreal bluets are rarely found at the same site, but the reasons for this are not well understood.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Denis Doucet, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Denis Doucet
- Adapted by Denis Doucet from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enallagma_boreale
More Info
iNaturalist.ca Map
| Family | Coenagrionidae (Pond Damsels) |
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