Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Suborder Zygoptera Scientific name Ischnura ramburii | Phylum Arthropoda Order Odonata Family Coenagrionidae Rank Species | |
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Similar Citrine forktail, Ischnura posita, Familiar bluet, Ischnura, Argia | ||
Rambur s forktail
Rambur's forktail (Ischnura ramburii) is a member of the damselfly family Coenagrionidae. Males are green with blue on abdominal segments 8 and 9. Females are orange-red, olive green, or similar to males in coloration. This is the most widespread New World Ischnura, occurring throughout the Americas from the United States to Chile, as well as Hawaii and the Antilles.
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Habitat
Ponds, lakes, marshes, and slow streams with vegetation and sunlight are its main habitat. Damselfly nymphs never live in salt water, but I. ramburii nymphs have been observed in brackish and even sulphurous waters.
Mating
John Edward Lloyd qualified the mating of this species as "enigmatic": the male grasps the female's head with the terminal appendages of its abdomen while the female seeks and absorbs the sperm with its gonopore. He hypothesised that this "wheel" could have evolved in order to prevent females from escaping during the copulation.
Etymology
Edmond de Sélys Longchamps named this damselfly in honor of Jules Pierre Rambur, an entomologist 12 years his senior. Rambur's collection of insects was one of several that was incorporated into that of Sélys.
