Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Natural History

by Dennis Paulson

A lavishly illustrated introduction to the world's dragonflies and damselflies

Dragonflies and damselflies are often called birdwatchers’ insects. Large, brightly colored, active in the daytime, and displaying complex and interesting behaviors, they have existed since the days of the dinosaurs, and they continue to flourish. Their ancestors were the biggest insects ever, and they still impress us with their size, the largest bigger than a small hummingbird. There are more than 6,000 odonate species known at present, and you need only visit any wetland on a warm summer day to be enthralled by their stunning colors and fascinating behavior. In this lavishly illustrated natural history, leading dragonfly expert Dennis Paulson offers a comprehensive, accessible, and appealing introduction to the world’s dragonflies and damselflies.

The book highlights the impressive skills and abilities of dragonflies and damselflies―superb fliers that can glide, hover, cruise, and capture prey on the wing. It also describes their arsenal of tactics to avoid predators, and their amazing sex life, including dazzling courtship displays, aerial mating, sperm displacement, mate guarding, and male mimicry.

Dragonflies and Damselflies includes profiles of more than fifty of the most interesting and beautiful species from around the world. Learn about the Great Cascade Damsel, which breeds only at waterfalls, the mesmerizing flight of Blue-winged Helicopters, and how the larva of the Common Sanddragon can burrow into sand as efficiently as a mole.

Combining expert text and excellent color photographs, this is a must-have guide to these remarkable insects.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature

224 pages, Hardcover

Published March 26, 2019

Reviews

[Wendy Feltham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous and outstanding book about dragonflies and damselflies by an expert in Odonata. Paulson's text is comprehensible to an amateur like me, yet probably detailed enough for someone trained in entomology. Paulson wrote chapters on topics such as Habitats, High-quality vision, and Larval Life, then showcased specific species from around the world. If you are interested in the fascinating life cycle of dragonflies, or just want to look at beautiful photos of dragonflies of every color of the rainbow, this book is perfect.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose Dragonflies and Damselflies because I thought it might help me write dragonfly haiku, but it didn't. The book gives many species profiles of odonata in the topics of superb flight, excellent vision, foraging behaviors, predation and parasites; in mating and oviposition, larvae, hatching, dispersal, migration, and longevity; dragonflies' relation to culture, threats to dragonflies; and odonate diversity.
The most interesting data are mating and ovipositing and threats and dispersal.

The best part of the book is the colored photographs.