What's New

The 128 species on our European checklist can be grouped into the following 39 genera (with the number of member species in brackets):

Damselflies: Calopteryx (4), Epallage (1), Lestes (7), Sympecma (2), Ischnura (6), Enallagma (1), Coenagrion (12), Erythromma (3), Pyrrhosoma (2), Ceriagrion (2), Nehalennia (1) and Platycnemis (3).

Dragonflies: Aeshna (11), Anax (4), Brachytron (1), Boyeria (2), Caliaeschna (1), Gomphus (6), Ophiogomphus (1), Onychogomphus (3), Paragomphus (1), Lindenia (1), Cordulegaster (7), Cordulia (1), Somatochlora (7), Epitheca (1), Oxygastra (1), Macromia (1), Libellula (3), Orthetrum (9), Leucorrhinia (5), Sympetrum (10), Crocothemis (1), Trithemis (2), Brachythemis (1), Diplacodes (1), Selysiothemis (1), Pantala (1) and Zygonyx (1).

As you can in the list see above, some genera contain only one species in Europe. But while five of those are indeed single-species genera (viz. Epallage, Brachytron, Caliaeschna, Oxygastra and Selysiothemis), others have many more member species worldwide. For example the genus Enallagma has a single member species in Europe (the very common E. cyathigerum) but as many as 45 or so other member species worldwide. Similarly our sole member of the genus Macromia is the rare and elusive M. splendens, but worldwide the genus contains some 80 member species.

So while we're still waiting impatiently for this cold, stubborn winter to finally make way for spring, we've decided to present here some of our photographs of mature males of two genera: Lestes and Sympetrum.

The damselfly genus Lestes contains some 80 species worldwide, seven of which occur in Europe: Lestes barbarus, L. dryas, L. macrostigma, L. parvidens, L. sponsa, L. virens and L. viridis.

The dragonfly genus Sympetrum contains about 60 species worldwide, of which 10 occur in Europe: Sympetrum danae, S. depressiusculum, S. flaveolum, S. fonscolombii, S. meridionale, S. pedemontanum, S. sanguineum, S. sinaiticum, S. striolatum and S. vulgatum.

Please note: we made the photographs below between July 2006 and October 2009. They are all 100% natural; none of the animals were caught, subdued, subjected to flashlight or otherwise pestered; none of the photos have been cropped, interpolated, upresed, HDR'ed or otherwise 'enhanced'.

Hover your mouse pointer over a thumbnail below to display a larger version of it. Or click on a thumbnail to display the photograph (at 1050 x 700 pixels) in a new window. And then, if you'd like to get even closer, you can drag the ZoomBox from the top-left corner of that window across the photograph. Note that you may have to refresh the window manually (by pressing F5 on your keyboard) for the ZoomBox to display correctly.

"The quality of the photographs is superb.
They truly capture the essence of these remarkable insects."
R.H., bookshop owner, Chichester, UK