---
title: "American Rubyspot"
description: "Hetaerina americana — Insecten en spinnen. The American rubyspot (Hetaerina americana) is a damselfly of the family Calopterygidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/american-rubyspot
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# American Rubyspot

> Hetaerina americana — Insecten en spinnen. The American rubyspot (Hetaerina americana) is a damselfly of the family Calopterygidae.

- Scientific name: *Hetaerina americana*
- Category: `insects` (Insecten en spinnen)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 24229
- Wikidata: [Q149045](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q149045)
- iNaturalist taxon: [51761](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51761)

## Names

- en: American Rubyspot
- es: Caballito escarlata común
- fr: Courtisane d'Amérique

## Countries with the most observations

US (19818), MX (978), CA (971), HN (3)

## Summary

The American rubyspot (Hetaerina americana) is a damselfly of the family Calopterygidae.
Males have a lustrous red head and thorax and a large red spot at the base of each wing. The abdomen of both genders is brilliant green.
The female may have either green or copper colored marks on the thorax and possess faint amber wing spots with patterned bodies that vary from brown to green. The species has served as a widely used model system in studies of sexual selection, territorial behavior, and population genetics.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rubyspot

## Photo

![American Rubyspot](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/american-rubyspot/medium.jpg)

Photo: Brady Reed · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180039372

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/american-rubyspot?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).