Wednesday 22 May
In the News: Nature health check finds UK wildlife to be in trouble
Cretan bluet (Coenagrion intermedium)
Cretan bluet fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Cretan bluet description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Insecta |
| Order | Odonata |
| Family | Coenagrionidae |
| Genus | Coenagrion (1) |
The Cretan bluet (Coenagrion intermedium) is typical of the Coenagrion genus, commonly known as ‘northern bluets’, in which males possess vibrant blue-and-black colouration (5). Northern bluet females usually come in two colour forms, either sharing the male’s same blue-and-black colouration (known as homeochromatic morph), or being different, typically brown to olive-coloured (known as heterochromatic morph), and therefore easily distinguishable from the male (2). Known females of this restricted species are all heterochromatic and have the dorsal part of the abdomen largely black with a small blue-green area on the anterior part of each segment. They are easily distinguishable from the males, which are predominantly blue with black areas.
- Synonyms
- Coenagrion ponticum intermedium.
- French
- Agrion Intermédiaire.
- Endemic
- A species or taxonomic group that is only found in one particular country or geographic area.
- Larvae
- Stage in an animal’s lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
- Metamorphosis
- An abrupt physical change from the larval to the adult form.
- Morph
- One of two or more distinct types of a given species, often distinct colour forms, which occur in the same population at the same time (that is, are not geographical or seasonal variations).
- Ovipositor
- Egg-laying organ in female insects consisting of outgrowths of the abdomen (the hind region of the body in insects).
- Territory
- An area occupied and defended by an animal, a pair of animals or a colony.
-
The Dragonflies of the Eastern Mediterranean (April, 2006)
http://www.libellen.org/epallage/pubs/crete.html - Dijkstra, K.D.B. and Lewington, R. (2006) Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. British Wildlife Publishing, Gillingham.
- Jödicke, R. (2005) Bemerkungen zu Coenagrion intermedium (Odonata: Coenagrionidae). Libellula Supplement, 6: 15 - 24.
-
IUCN Red List (March, 2011)
http://www.iucnredlist.org/ -
Idaho Museum of Natural History (August, 2006)
http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/bio/insects/drgnfly/coenfam/coendex.htm - view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
More »
Top
Related species
Cretan bluet biology
Although not investigated, the larval period is thought to last around one year or less in the Cretan bluet, by extrapolation of what occurs in the closest relative species from the Mediterranean area. The flight period runs from the last third of April to mid-August. Adults feed on small flying insects. Males are unlikely to defend territories. Oviposition is done in tandem with the male. Females lay their eggs in floating herbs, small roots along the river edge and rotten wood in the water, using their ovipositor to cut a slit in the substrate (3).
TopCretan bluet range
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Cretan bluet habitat
Found only in and around rivers, with Cretan bluet larvae having been collected from between floating tree roots (1).
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Cretan bluet status
The Cretan bluet is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (4).
Cretan bluet threats
The Cretan bluet is known from only 13 places spread over ten locations in Crete, and so is vulnerable to local agricultural policies, and the destruction of river bank vegetation destruction (4)
Cretan bluet conservation
There are currently no conservation initiatives targeting the Cretan bluet.
TopAuthentication
Authenticated (18/12/2006) by Jean-Pierre Boudot, CNRS, Université Henri Poincaré Nancy I, France.
TopGlossary
References
More »Related species
This species is featured in:
This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Cretan bluet
© Dimitris Poursanidis / terraSolutions
Dimitris Poursanidis
terraSolutions research company
Heraklion, Crete
Greece
Tel: 30 6944910637
dpoursanidis@gmail.com
http://www.terrasolutions.eu
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.