The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies (β)

Suborders | References | Useful Links | Acknowledgements | About the system

Registered contributors
This site exists to collect and provide taxonomic and basic biological information about the dragonflies and damselflies. Everyone is welcome to use the information provided by the site, but only registered contributors who have logged in may add information directly. A more detailed discussion of the purpose and procedures of the site is given here. Essentially, we aim to provide a portal which gives you entry to information about individual dragonfly and damselfly species, and to publications focused on dragonflies and damselflies

The names of families, genera, and species used in this site are those listed by Dr Jan van Tol of the National Museum of Natural History in the Netherlands, and may also be accessed at his taxonomic website. We are very grateful to everyone who has contributed information to this site (see acknowledgements page). 		  Username:      

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Introduction to the Odonata

The insect order Odonata - the dragonflies and damselflies - are predators both as adults and as larvae. The larvae are generally aquatic. The adults are slender and fast-flying, hunting by sight and catching their prey on the wing. Most species are 30-90 mm long, but the largest are more than 150mm long and the smallest are less than 20 mm. Adults have two equal or subequal pairs of membranous, non-coupled wings, minute antennae, and large, conspicuous compound eyes. Both adults and larvae are adaptable and complex in their behaviour. For a more general description of the biology and attributes of dragonflies and damselflies, see the Odonata section of the Tree Of Life project.

Becoming a registered contributor

If you would like to become a registered contributor, please go to the contributor registration page. Registered contributors can update entries and add information to the database directly, rather than by emailing the moderator. To report problems with the site, or submit information without becoming a registered contributer, contact the site moderator.

Featured this month ...

The website already lists all the species recognized by Van Tol in the Naturis database, and almost 6000 publications covering Odonatan research. But because the website has just been opened, relatively few individual species or references have additional details provided on the site. So our initial featured set of species and references are to the Odonatan fauna of New Zealand (for which the site moderator has entered material) and to his publications. Each month, we will endeavour to feature a different set of recently-entered material.