The genus name
Aciagrion is made from two greek words:
aci or
ἀκίς meaning a pointed object or needle, and
agrion or
ἄγριος, meaning wild.
Agrion was the name given in 1775 by
Johan Fabricius for all
damselflies. The species name
fragile is a Latin word meaning fragile, or easily broken. In 1906,
Robin Tillyard named this species probably in contrast to other members of the genus
Ischnura, where it had been provisionally placed. While the name was originally spelled "
fragilis", the
ICZN mandates that species names that are adjectival must agree in gender with the genus name, so when this species was moved to the genus
Aciagrion, which is neuter in
grammatical gender, the spelling of the species name changed to
fragile. ==Gallery==