Springwater Dancer

About the Springwater Dancer

The Springwater Dancer is a vivid Hill Country damselfly. Mature males are electric violet-blue with black shoulder stripes and a blue-tipped abdomen; females are tan or pale blue versions of the same pattern. Dancers hold their wings closed above the back and perch with a slight upward tilt.

True to the name, this species favors spring runs and clear, rocky streams. Males perch on stones and streamside plants, making short fluttering flights - the "dancing" of the dancer group - and pairs oviposit in tandem in wet moss and plant stems at the waterline.

It is one of the characteristic damselflies of Central Texas spring country, on the wing from spring through fall around clean, flowing water.