# Blue Featherleg

*Platycnemis pennipes*

Males have expanded, feather-like white legs which they wave like flags in elaborate aerial dances to attract females and warn off rival males.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Odonata › Platycnemididae › Platycnemis
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** wetland
- **Habitat:** Slow-flowing streams, rivers, canals, and occasionally ponds with abundant bankside vegetation.
- **Diet:** Carnivorous, preying on small flying insects such as midges, mosquitoes, and aphids.
- **Range:** Europe, Western Asia, Siberia
- **Size:** Wingspan of 35-45 mm, body length of 35-37 mm
- **Lifespan:** 1 to 2 years (mostly spent as aquatic nymphs; adults live only 1 to 2 months)
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Water pollution, destruction of riparian vegetation, and river canalization.
- **Safe to approach?:** Completely harmless. You can safely observe this damselfly from a few inches away as it rests on riverside reeds. Avoid touching or catching it, as its delicate wings and feathered legs are easily damaged.

## About

The white-legged damselfly or blue featherleg ( Platycnemis pennipes ) is a damselfly of slow-flowing, muddy waters. It occurs from the Atlantic to Siberia and is often abundant throughout its range.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/e9f33290-023c-4b5a-92e1-427e7b393af6
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/109650
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platycnemis pennipes
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/77955329/medium.jpeg (Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

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