Pond Damselflies
Family Coenagrionidae
Genus Nehalennia
Sedge Sprite (Nehalennia irene)



Similar species – Spahgnum Sprite (Nehalennia gracilis).


Flight season: mid-May to late August.

Population: probably the most common local odonate, found at virtually all vegetated still and slow water habitats. During the peak of their flight season hundrdes can be found in a small area, keeping low amidst the tall grasses and sedges.

Length: about 25 mm, very gracile, our smallest local damselfly.


Tweed, Ontario, about ½ km west of town, a marsh bordering the trans-Canada Trail: typical local marsh with Cattails, sedges and other emergent vegetation, various small willows, alders, dogwoods and some Tamarack.
Male Sedge Sprite (Nehalennia irene)
May 31, 2010


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Female Sedge Sprite (Nehalennia irene)
May 31, 2010

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Female Sedge Sprite (Nehalennia irene)
May 31, 2010

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Sedge Sprite (Nehalennia irene), wheel
May 31, 2010


Stoco Fen, east of Tweed on East Hungerford Road: relatively little open water compared to a marsh. Wetland supporting sedges, orchids, Bog Labrador Tea, Pitcher Plants and other fen indicator species, trees are mainly Tamarack and Eastern White Cedar.
Male Sedge Sprite (Nehalennia irene), terminalia
June 22, 2014