Amethyst Dancer

Argia pallens · Order: Odonata · Family: Coenagrionidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Amethyst Dancer
Photo: Fyn Kynd, CC BY-SA

It is native to southwestern North America and extends southward to Guatemala.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The amethyst dancer belongs to the damselfly family Coenagrionidae.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It lives in habitats across southwestern North America down to Guatemala.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes southwestern North America and reaches as far south as Guatemala.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 3 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Arizona, Texas, New Mexico.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Amethyst Dancer photo 2
Photo: Tereka Lasso, CC BY-SA
Amethyst Dancer photo 3
Photo: Emmett Collins-Sussman, CC BY
Amethyst Dancer photo 4
Photo: Mike Ostrowski, CC BY-SA
Amethyst Dancer photo 5
Photo: Rachel Stringham, CC BY

Same family (Coenagrionidae)

Eastern ForktailEastern ForktailIschnura verticalisBlue-tailed DamselflyBlue-tailed DamselflyIschnura elegansFragile ForktailFragile ForktailIschnura positaAzure DamselflyAzure DamselflyCoenagrion puellaFamiliar BluetFamiliar BluetEnallagma civileCommon Blue DamselflyCommon Blue DamselflyEnallagma cyathigerum

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethyst_dancer

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.