Dragonfly Literature

DRAGONFLY IDENTIFICATION

This list includes all recently produced field guides. Some are out of print.

Fieldguides – Britain & Ireland

• Brooks, S.J. 1997. Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland British Wildlife Publishing, Hook.
• Gibbons, R.B. 1986. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Britain and Northern Europe. Country Life Books/Hamlyn, Twickenham.
• Hammond, C.O. 1983. The Dragonflies of Great Britain and Ireland. 2nd edition revised by R. Merritt. Harley Books, Colchester.
• McGeeney, A. 1986. A complete guide to British dragonflies. Cape, London.
• Powell, D. 1999. A Guide to the Dragonflies of Great Britain. Arlequin Press, Chelmsford.

European fauna

• Askew, R.R. 1988. The dragonflies of Europe. Harley Books, Colchester.
• D'Aguilar, J., J-L. Dommanget & R. Prehec. 1986. A field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain, Europe and North Africa. (English edition edited by S. Brooks). Collins, London.
• Norling, U & G. Sahlén. 1997. Odonata, Dragonflies. In Anders Nilsson (ed) The aquatic Insects of North Europe 2: 13-66. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark.

GENERAL READING

• Corbet, P.S. 1962. A biology of dragonflies. Witherby, London (reprinted 1983 Classey, Farringdon).
• Corbet, P.S. 1999. Dragonflies: behaviour and ecology of Odonata. Harley Books, Colchester.
• Corbet, P.S., C. Longfield & N.W. Moore. 1960. Dragonflies Collins, London. Revised edition 1985.
• Longfield, C. 1937. The Dragonflies of the British Isles. Warne, London. 2nd edition 1949.
• Merritt, R., N.W. Moore & B.C. Eversham. 1996. Atlas of the dragonflies of Britain and Ireland. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Research Publication No. 9. HMSO, London.
• Miller, P.L. 1987. Dragonflies. Naturalists’ Handbooks 7. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Van Tol, J & M.J. Verdonk. 1988. The protection of dragonflies (Odonata) and their biotopes. Nature and Environment Series No. 38, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

OTHER USEFUL PUBLICATIONS

• Ashe, P., J.P. O’Connor & D.A. Murray. 1998. A Checklist of Irish Aquatic Insects. Occasional Publication of the Irish biogeographical Society No. 3.
• Fittter, R & R. Manuel. 1986. Field Guide to Fresh Water Life. Collins, London.
• Nelson, B. 2000. Dragonflies of the Burren and surrounding areas. Atropos 11: 9
• Ryan, J.G., J.P. O’Connor & B.P. Beirne. 1984. A bibliography of Irish entomology. The Flyleaf Press, Dublin.

SELECTED PAPERS RELATING TO THE IRISH FAUNA

• Bond, K.G.M. 1989. Aeshna cyanea (Müller) Odonata Aeshnidae, a dragonfly new to Ireland. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 23: 73-74.
• Cotton, D.C.F. 1981. Some new records and an appraisal of the published records for Ischnura pumilio (Charpentier)(Odonata: Coenagriidae) in Ireland. Entomologists’ Gazette 33: 59-64.
• Cotton, D.C.F. 1982. Coenagrion lunulatum (Charpentier)(Odonata: Coenagrionidae) new to the British Isles. Entomologists’ Gazette 33: 213-214.
• Faris, R.C. 1943. A dragonfly new to Ireland, Sympetrum fonscolombii Selys. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 8: 114.
• Faris, R.C. & F.J. O’Rourke. 1946. Orthetrum cancellatum L., a dragonfly new to Ireland, and other dragonfly notes from Connaught. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 8: 387-390.
• Fox, A.D. 1989. Ischnura pumilio (Charpentier)(Odonata: Coenagrionidae) - a wandering opportunist? Entomologist’s Record 101: 25-26.
• Goyvaerts, P. 1979. Cordulia aenea (Odonata: Corduliidae) a new county record. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 19: 329.
• Graves, P.P. 1947. Odonata at Killarney. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 9: 61-63.
• Hämäläinen, M. 1985. Notes on "nigrescens-like" specimens of Sympetrum striolatum (Odonata, Libellulidae) in the Åland Islands. Notulae Entomologica 65: 68.
• King, J.J.F.X. & J.N. Halbert. 1910. A list of the Neuroptera of Ireland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 28B: 29-112.
• Longfield, C. 1948. A vast immigration of dragonflies into the south coast of Co. Cork. Irish Naturalists’ Journal 9: 134-141.
• Merritt, R & G.S. Vick. 1983. Is Sympetrum nigrescens Lucas a good species? Journal of the British Dragonfly Society 1: 7-8
• Moore, N.W. 1980. Lestes dryas Kirby - a declining species of dragonfly (Odonata) in need of conservation: notes on its status and habitat in England and Ireland. Biological Conservation 17: 143-148.
• Nelson, B. 1985 Coenagrion lunulatum (Odonata) new to Co. Fermanagh. Irish Naturalists' Journal 21:503-504
• Nelson, B. 1986 The Odonata of the North of Ireland. Journal of the British Dragonfly Society 2: 21-23
• Nelson, B. 1999. The status and habitat of the Irish damselfly Coenagrion lunulatum (Charpentier) (Odonata) in Northern Ireland. Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine 135: 59-68.
• Nelson, B., R. Northridge & I. Rippey. 1989. The Odonata of Co. Fermanagh. Bulletin of the Irish biogeographical Society 12: 113-134.
• O’Connor, J.P., M.A. O’Connor & D.C.F. Cotton. 1983. Lestes dryas Kirby (Insecta: Odonata) discovered in eastern Ireland. Irish Naturalists' Journal 21: 34-35
• Parr, A. 1999. Migrant and dispersive dragonflies in Britain and Ireland during 1998. Journal of the British Dragonfly Society 15: 51-57
• Parr, A. 2000. An Annotated List of the Odonata of Britain and Ireland. Atropos 11: 10-20
• Rippey, I. & B. Nelson. 1988. Odonata in the north of Ireland in 1986/87. Journal of the British Dragonfly Society 4: 13-18.
• Silsby, J. & Ward-Smith, A.J. 1997. The influx of Sympetrum flaveolum (L.) during the summer of 1995. Journal of the British Dragonfly Society 13: 14-22
• Speight, M.C.D. & J. Legrand. 1984. Coenagrion lunulatum (Odonata): morphology of the female and notes on a second Irish colony. Irish Naturalists' Journal 21: 237-242.