Furtive Forktail

Ischnura prognata · Order: Odonata · Family: Coenagrionidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Furtive Forktail
Photo: Claire Herzog, CC BY

The furtive forktail is a narrow-winged damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It lives in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

It belongs to the species Ischnura prognata, known as the furtive forktail.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It is found in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range is North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 18 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia.

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

Furtive Forktail photo 2
Photo: Dennis Vollmar, CC BY
Furtive Forktail photo 3
Photo: Paul Bedell, CC BY-SA
Furtive Forktail photo 4
Photo: Dennis Vollmar, CC BY
Furtive Forktail photo 5
Photo: Dennis Vollmar, CC BY

Questions people ask

Where does the furtive forktail live?

It is found in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

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/Ischnura_prognata

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.