by Klaas-Douwe B. Dijkstra.

From the Publisher

Airily dancing over rivers and ponds, the thousands of colorful dragonfly and damselfly species that cohabit our planet may seem of little importance. Few life-forms, however, convey the condition of the most limiting resource on land and life's most bountiful environment as well as they can: while the adults are exceptional aerial hunters, their nymphs are all confined to freshwater. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the World showcases their beauty and diversity while shedding light on how they evolved into the vital symbols of planetary health we celebrate today.

Product Details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Format: Hardback
• Pages: 256

A Review by Guy Padfield - 12th January 2026

Dragonflies are rising stars in the world of amateur natural history. Thanks in large part to the wealth of truly excellent field guides that have come out over the last few decades (not least Dijkstra's own guide to the Odonata of Europe, now in its second edition and translated into many languages) more and more birders and butterfly-watchers have added dragons and damsels to their areas of expertise. This present book is a valuable complement to the field guides, introducing the reader to the worldwide diversity of of this fascinating order. It includes illustrated coverage of every family and subfamily and lists all genera within the subfamilies.

I often regard the introductions to books like this as necessary formalities, rehearsing essentially the same material (biology, life cycle, ecology etc.) as may be found in every other work on the zoological group in question. In this case, however, I found myself gripped. When and why did this ancient group of insects settle upon just two stable and roughly equally represented morphologies, those of the dragons and the damsels? Why did all other expressions of Odonata die out? How is it that dragons and damsels co-exist in ecological harmony in our ponds and waterways? I learnt about different strategies for egg-laying and larval survival and why male dragons grip their females between the eyes while damsels hold onto the prothorax. There is a meditation on dragonfly nomenclature, both scientific and vernacular, noting that no less than 85 percent of English names have been minted in the last 25 years, often by the authors of the field guides. Some of these names are in fact duplicates, as Americans and Brits especially coined different names for the same groups (just as Americans call divers loons, so they call darters meadowhawks). Dijkstra makes reference to these discrepancies in the text but British readers should be aware the section headings in the main part of the book prioritise American usage. The introduction concludes with sections on identifying odonates, their conservation and recording, and a brief guide to what follows in the rest of the book.

The vast bulk of this consists of profiles of the families and subfamilies, presented in systematic order but placing the larger and more familiar groups before the smaller, more obscure ones. Each family is introduced with a global overview, followed by brief monographs of its subfamilies. Sometimes individual genera get their own sections, while more generally, groups of related genera are treated together. Thus, the subfamily Libellulinae opens with a section on 'typical skimmers' (Orthetrum and Orthemis), before focusing on the single genus Libellula (the 'temperate skimmers', or as we in the UK call them, 'chasers') and concluding with a section covering the many tropical genera (jungleskimmers, grenadiers and associates). All are copiously illustrated with superb photographs of living insects and accompanied by maps showing the global range of the groups and listings of all the genera included. As a bonus, Dijkstra helpfully explains the etymological origins of the Latin names ('Libellula', for example, is a diminutive of 'libella', the Latin for a mason's level – which is T-shaped like a dragonfly).

The book concludes with a glossary, a reading list and an index to the families and genera.

In a sense, the more you already know about dragons and damsels, the more you will get out of this book. The text is dense and covers such a bewildering number of essentially similar insects (lacking conspicuously coloured wings, dragonfly groups are superficially less distinct than butterfly groups, for example) that the complete beginner is likely to feel full after reading a few entries. If, on the other hand, you can already tell chasers from darters and hawkers from gomphids, you will delight in deepening your understanding of the families and subfamilies. Dijkstra writes with the authority of a true expert and also with great clarity, making this visual treat of a book an invaluable reference work on the dragonflies and damselflies of the world.