Common Blue Damselfy - female front view, Heeswijk, Netherlands
Tricky to identify as females of blue damsels are highly variable. I had some help from an expert noting the broad shoulder stripe and near blank chest piece as keys. There was also a behavioral sign: this one was scooting over water easily, which apparently isn't done by the Azure damselfly. In dutch for this reason we call this one the "snuffle damselfly", meaning it "sniffs" the water, so to speak.
A fact about this species that blew my mind: larvae sometimes overwinter twice.
The side view shows the lack of a black stripe in the 2nd seam of the chest piece:
The top view shows the torpedo-like black stripes which are typical for the female of this species:
"Enallagma cyathigerum" is a European damselfly. The species can reach a length of 32 to 35 mm. It is common in all of Europe, except for Iceland.
