The Dragonflies and Damselflies of North Carolina
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North Carolina's 189 Odonate species
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Related Species in COENAGRIONIDAE: Number of records for 2022 = 0

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[View PDF]		Little Bluet (Enallagma minusculum) by Troy Hibbitt. 2012-07 Penobscot County, ME
Compare with: Atlantic Bluet   Familiar Bluet  
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Note: these identification tips apply specifically to mature males; features may differ in immature males and in females.

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Map
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Flight Charts
Distribution Largely disjunct population, known only from White Lake in Bladen County; the major portion of the range is Northeastern, south only to southern NJ (OdonataCentral range map). Believed (as of 2014) to be an introduced population.
Abundance Can be common along lakeshores with emergent vegetation, within its main range. If it still occurs in NC, it likely must be quite local and rare, especially as nearly all records were over 25 years ago, and most of the shoreline of White Lake is now heavily developed.
Flight The 10 dates for NC fall within a narrow time window -- early May to late May. However, in a 1968 publication by Duncan Cuyler -- who was responsible for essentially all records and other information on the species in the state, he states "From May to July this species is abundant at White Lake". Thus, the flight period extends for two to three months and covers that May to July span, if not a wider span of dates (when it might not be abundant).
Habitat Floating or emergent vegetation along lakeshores.

See also Habitat Account for Coastal Plain Herbaceous Ponds and Sloughs
Behavior
Comments This is likely the rarest damselfly in NC, if it still exists. The last observation was May 1997, thus giving hope that it still occurs around White Lake. Mark Shields kayaked completely around White Lake on 11 May 2017 specifically searching for this species, but he found none. Several others have also searched the shore of this now-heavily developed lake and have not found it, though it is not certain if these surveys were done into June or July.

Other bay lakes in Bladen County have been well-worked over the past few decades -- Jones, Baytree, Singletary, etc.; yet, there are no records of Little Bluet for them, the reason a few biologists wonder why a northern species would be disjunct far to the south at only White Lake, and not at other similar lakes. Therefore, in Fall 2014 the NC Natural Heritage Program created a new Watch List category: Watch Category 6, which includes species known to occur in North Carolina which current data suggest are likely not native to North Carolina but whose native occurrence is plausible. The current State Rank is now SU (Status Undetermined) -- more of a rank that says it is not clear if any remain in the state, and the Watch List Category 6 status indicates its uncertainty of being native to NC. A small population was recently (2011) found in southern NJ, though the gap in the range to Bladen County, NC, is still nearly 400 miles.
State Rank SU
State Status W
Global Rank G4
Federal Status
Synonym
Other Name
Species account update: LeGrand on 2021-02-11 10:27:49
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