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 2024 = 0

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[View PDF]		Golden Bluet (Enallagma sulcatum) by Troy Hibbitt. 2009-06 Liberty County, FL
Compare with: Orange Bluet   Vesper Bluet  
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Note: these identification tips apply specifically to mature males; features may differ in immature males and females.
Enallagma_sulcatum

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Map
Click on county for list of all its records for Golden Bluet
Flight Charts
Distribution One old report from New Hanover County, collected by A. Hess, in April (but year not given). The locality, given as Wilmington (Brimley 1938), is presumed to be Greenfield Lake. Both Donnelly (2004c) and Paulson (2011) show a dot for southeastern North Carolina in their range maps, but these dots seem to be in Columbus County. This appears to be an error, as we know of no other records for North Carolina. This species is limited to the Gulf Coast region, from southern Alabama to central Florida; the nearest population is northern Florida.
Abundance Unknown in the state; can be very abundant in FL. It is possibly extirpated from the state. Owing to the now (2024) mistaken belief that the species was collected in Columbus County, a few recent surveys for Golden Bluet were made along the shore of Lake Waccamaw, the only suitable habitat (sand-bottomed lake) in that county. These surveys have been negative for this species. However, now that the old/vague record has been determined to have been taken from New Hanover County, surveys should be undertaken there at Greenfield Lake if not other lakes in that county.
Flight In FL, flies from February to November. The NC specimen was collected in April.
Habitat Sand-bottomed lakes with much shore vegetation (including grasses and lily pads).

See also Habitat Account for Coastal Plain Herbaceous Ponds and Sloughs
Behavior
Comments This species, along with the Little Bluet (E. minusculum), are the most poorly known damselflies in North Carolina. However, unlike the northern Little Bluet, it is more likely that a southern species of large natural sand-bottomed lakes (in Florida) would be disjunct to North Carolina (without human intervention), which does have such lakes in Bladen and Columbus counties. Note that Belle's Sanddragon (Progomphus bellei) and Sandhill Clubtail (Phanogomphus cavillaris) also share this highly disjunct range from Florida to sand-bottomed bay lakes in southeastern North Carolina. Georgia and South Carolina have very few such sand-bottomed natural lakes. The species may be extirpated from North Carolina, of course; that is predicated on previous documentation being valid. The current N.C. Natural Heritage Program rank of SU (Undetermined) probably should now be moved to SH (Historical), as this sole record was clearly pre-1938.
State Rank SU [SH]
State Status W
Global Rank G4
Federal Status
Synonym
Other Name
Species account update: LeGrand on 2024-09-10 19:09:37
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