# Skimming Bluet

*Enallagma geminatum*

They fly so close to the water's surface that they are often overlooked by larger aerial predators, effectively hiding in plain sight.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Odonata › Coenagrionidae › Enallagma
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** wetland
- **Habitat:** Ponds, lakes, marshes, and slow-moving streams with abundant floating vegetation like water lilies.
- **Diet:** Carnivorous; eats mosquitoes, gnats, midges, and other small flying insects.
- **Range:** United States, Canada
- **Size:** 20 to 28 mm (0.8 to 1.1 inches) in length.
- **Lifespan:** 1 to 2 months as adults (up to 1 year total including the aquatic nymph stage).
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Wetland drainage, chemical runoff, water pollution, and loss of native aquatic shoreline vegetation.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. These tiny damselflies are completely safe to observe at close range. They do not bite or sting humans. Avoid handling them, as their wings and limbs are extremely fragile.

## About

Enallagma geminatum , the skimming bluet , is a species of narrow-winged damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is found in North America.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/2f472a21-72da-4bee-8a8e-4206b942738f
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/99912
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enallagma geminatum
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/43662622/medium.jpg (Jimmy Dee, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.