Four-spot midget (Mortonagrion hirosei)

Four-spot midget male
Four-spot midget male

Four-spot midget fact file

Four-spot midget description

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderOdonata
FamilyCoenagrionidae
GenusMortonagrion (1)

With four apple-green spots on its black back, the four-spot midget is a very distinctive and attractive damselfly (2) (3). Females may be one of two forms, and whilst some are like the previous description, others are orange. Immature four-spot midgets are greyish but still have four pale spots visible on the back (2). Like other damselflies, the four-spot midget has a long, slender body, richly-veined wings that are held vertical at rest, and large eyes which provide exceptional vision (4).

Size
Length: up to 2.5 cm (2)
Top

Four-spot midget biology

All damselfly larvae live in water, where they breathe through external gills (6). The larvae are opportunistic hunters, feeding on a wide range of invertebrates (4). They capture their prey by stalking it until they are sufficiently close to shoot out their labium (lower jaw), which bears hinged hooks to impale the prey and drag it back into the damselfly’s mouth (4) (6).

Near the end of their larval life, the larvae stops feeding and moves to a plant, rock or other substrate and begins to breathe air (4) (6). The adult body bursts through the larval skin, the wings expand and harden, and the insect takes its first flight (6). Unlike many damselflies, the four-spot midget does not leave the site in which they emerged, and instead will stay in the reed community where they will spend their entire adult life (5).

Adult four-spot midgets can be seen flying about their habitat from late May to early August (5). Like the larvae, the adults are generalized, opportunistic feeders (4), which prey on smaller flying insects, such as midges and mosquitoes (2). The four-spot midget is a weak flier, and adopts a sit-and-wait tactic when searching for prey or mates (5). Its weak flying abilities, along with its small body size and bright colouration, especially of the males, may mean it is particularly vulnerable to predation. The average lifespan of this damselfly is estimated to be around 35 days (5).

Top

Four-spot midget range

Occurs in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It may also exist in mainland China (2).

Top

Four-spot midget habitat

Four-spot midgets inhabit brackish streams and marshes (1) (5), where the larvae occur in the water and the adults inhabit reedbeds (5).

Top

Four-spot midget status

The four-spot midget is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List (1).

IUCN Red List species status – Near Threatened

Top

Four-spot midget threats

This vulnerable insect is threatened by habitat loss and degradation (1). In Japan, the extent of reedbeds has been substantially reduced by river alterations and the destruction of wetlands (5), and suitable habitat in mainland China is similarly being lost to city development, reclamation and dam construction (2).

Top

Four-spot midget conservation

The four-spot midget occurs in at least one protected area, the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong. Research projects on the four-spot midget are being carried out to improve understanding of this species and reedbed re-establishment programmes are being undertaken (2). The IUCN, which have assessed the four-spot midget as Vulnerable to extinction, recommend that the coastal breeding sites of this attractive damselfly are protected (1).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Top

Find out more

For further information on damselflies see:

  • O’Toole, C. (2002) The New Encyclopedia of Insects and their Allies. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Top

Authentication

This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk

Top

Glossary

Brackish
Slightly salty water.
Invertebrates
Animals with no backbone.
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.
Top

References

  1. IUCN Red List (June, 2011)
    http://www.iucnredlist.org
  2. WWF Hong Kong (June, 2008)
    http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/maipo/wildlife/invertebrates/midget.php
  3. Society for Wildlife and Nature. (2006) Conservationists amazed at endangered damselfly discovery. International Conservation Newsletter, 14(2): 5 - 6.
  4. O’Toole, C. (2002) The New Encyclopedia of Insects and their Allies. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  5. Watanabe, M. and Mimura, Y. (2003) Population dynamics of Mortonagrion hirosei (Odonata: Coenagrionidae). International Journal of Odonatology, 6(1): 65 - 78.
  6. Moore, N.W. (1997) Dragonflies: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Odonata Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

More »Related species

Pseudagrion (Pseudagrion guichardi)Elegant sprite (Pseudagrion decorum)Ischnura (Ischnura abyssinica)Orangeblack Hawaiian damselfly (Megalagrion xanthomelas)Sabino dancer (Argia sabino)Pseudagrion (Pseudagrion kaffinum)Balinsky's sprite (Pseudagrion inopinatum)Nubian sprite (Pseudagrion nubicum)

Please donate to ARKive today

Help us share the wonders of the natural world. Donate today!

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

Image credit

Four-spot midget male  
Four-spot midget male

© Allen To

Allen To
The Swire Institute of Marine Science
Cape d'Aguilar Shek O
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong
China
allenwlto@yahoo.com

X
Close

Link to this photo

ARKive species - Four-spot midget (Mortonagrion hirosei) 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

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

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:

  • 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.

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.