📸 PhotoPhoto: Alpsdake · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Asiatic bluetail
Ischnura asiatica (Asiatic bluetail · アジアイトトンボ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its abdomen length of 20–26 mm is similar to the diameter of a Korean 100-won coin (24 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Although once common in rice paddies and ditches, records from a city in Japan note that it declined sharply as rice paddies shrank and ditch bank construction and pesticide use increased.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Asiatic bluetail is a small damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae distributed in Korea, Japan, China, the Russian Far East, and Taiwan. It is assessed as Least Concern (LC, 2022) by the IUCN.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
According to Japanese municipal data, abdomen length is 20–26 mm in males and 20–25 mm in females, and hindwing length is 12–15 mm in males and 14–17 mm in females. Males have a green thorax and an entirely blue ninth abdominal segment, while females are orange when immature and turn dull green when mature.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It lives in slow-moving waters such as ponds and wetlands and is distributed across most of Korea. In Japan, it appears from late March to late October and also lives in rice paddies.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
Living in ponds and wetlands across most of Korea, it is listed as 'A-si-a-sil-jam-ja-ri' (Korean name) on the National List of Species of Korea of the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR).
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2022) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/167204/1173800
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3Q6DS
- • iucnredlist.org — 1173800
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000037305 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000037305
- • wikidata.org — Q2208767
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Ischnura asiatica (male s4).jpg
- • city.matsuyama.ehime.jp — 6
- • ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC9980029
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Lisa Nicvert · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Ischnura elegans)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.