Links

Introduction

This page presents a number of links to other sources of Dragonfly and Damselfly information on the World Wide Web. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list - there are too many sites in existence to ensure that it would remain up to date. The links are listed in several categories: BDS on Social Media, Odonata-related websites in Britain and Ireland, International Research Organisations, UK National Organisations and Websites, General Odonatological Interest. There is also information about email-based Dragonfly discussion groups.

A separate page provides a listing of recommended books.

Please also let us know of any "dead" links. If you are responsible for a site that you believe falls into any of these categories but is not listed here, please contact the webmaster and I will consider it for inclusion. Similarly, contact me if a site is listed here and you wish me to remove it.

The British Dragonfly Society is not responsible for the content of any third-party sites listed in these links. External links open in a new window or tab.

BDS on Social Media

Odonata-related websites in Britain and Ireland

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International Research Organisations

UK National Organisations and Websites

  • National Biodiversity Network Atlases - the NBN Atlas project is an extensive collection of UK biological datasets, including those from our BDS Recording Scheme. Information on species, habitats and sites is available. Datasets are now available at full resolution.
  • National Biodiversity Network Gateway - this site was the forerunner of the NBN Atlas project, above, and was decommissioned in April 2017.
  • National Insect Week - a UK celebration of insects to which the BDS contributes.
  • Buglife - invertebrate conservation charity 'saving the small things that run the world'. The website contains lots of information about invertebrates, their habitats and details of what you can do to save invertebrates.
  • Natural England - a site dedicated to Protected Sites & Protected Species.
  • Biological Records Centre - a site dedicated to Biological Recording Schemes including Dragonflies and Damselflies.
  • ARKive - An "Electronic Noah's Ark", an online collection of images and information about plants and animals (including a few dragonflies) throughout the world. Built and maintained by The Wildscreen Trust.
  • Countryside Jobs - An ethical business publishing free & low cost information to promote countryside careers in the UK
  • The Natural History Museum - Take a look at London's Natural History Museum: collections and research.
  • AllOdonata - International photography site with good facilities to refine display by continent, country, etc. It was formerly a set of sites, one for each continent.
  • OdonataCentral & The Dragonfly Society of the Americas (DSA) - OdonataCentral hosts the site of the DSA and also contains comprehensive checklists of species together with ditribution maps and photos for USA, Canada and Mexico species. Highly recommended for anyone visiting the North America, and South-Central USA in particular. Completely overhauled in November 2007 including the facility for adding records from anywhere in the world and a new distribution map viewer.
  • The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies - at James Cook University, Australia. This site also has machine readable (.pdf) versions of Tillyard's “The Biology of Dragonflies” (1917) and Corbet's “A Biology of Dragonflies” (1962).
  • Société française d'Odonatologie (SfO) - The French Odonatology society.
  • Finnish Dragonfly Society - The site is in Finnish so here is a direct link to the species list in English.
  • Libellules - Christian Kerihuel's site about the odonata of France (in French).
  • Moulismes Nature - Showcases the wildlife that can be found in and around Moulismes, a village in the Vienne, central-western France. Dedicated Odonata section
  • Oxygastra - Grup d'estudi dels odonats de Catalunya - Excellent site with many good photographs of species from Catalonia and elsewhere in Europe
  • Nederlandse Vereniging voor Libellenstudie (NVL) - Brachytron: the Dutch dragonfly society.
  • Dutch Dragonflies - an alternative photo and video site of the dragonflies of The Netherlands.
  • Gesellschaft deutschsprachiger Odonatologen (GDO) - The web site of the Society of German-speaking Odonatologists (GdO).
  • The Hokkaido Odonatological Society - A group interested in studying and conserving dragonflies in Hokkaido (site in Japanese).
  • Armenian dragonflies - atlas of Armenian dragonflies - at a new address from 2016.
  • Odonata EU - The online identification guide for all dragonfly and damselfly species that occur in Europe
  • Odonata.DK - Dragonflies and damselflies of Denmark, in English and with Danish common names, by photographer Jesper Johnsen Pedersen.
  • Swedish Dragonflies - The Swedish dragonfly website.
  • Odonata of Spain - part of a personal photoblog in English.
  • Dragonflies of Moldova
  • Life In Freshwater - a wonderful website with outstanding underwater photography of larval dragonflies and damselflies, as well as many other aquatic inverterbates. All photos are taken by Jan Hamrsky. The site also includes information about his book 'Freshwater Life' which introduces 43 groups of freshwater invertebrates, supported by his macro underwater shots, and explains how he achieves his stunning photographs. 

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General Odonatological Interest

  • Dragonfly Prime excellent photographs of species and habitats of UK, European and Gambian dragonflies and damselflies.
  • Digital Dragonflies also known as the Digital Dragonfly Museum, this site has scanned images of many North American species.
  • Odonata Insect Fossils at the Virtual Fossil Museum (Roger Perkins, USA.)
  • Dragonflypix - The creators of this site have produced several hundreds of very good photographs (most taken in Italy) which are available for purchase as high-quality prints. The photos can be viewed online freely and include many UK species.
  • Les Richesses des Milieux Aquatiques - French web site with photos of many European species of dragonfly along with other water-dwelling animals.
  • British Wildlife Publishing - publisher of "Field Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of GB and Ireland". BDS members can get a discount of £1 for subscriptions to British Wildlife magazine.
  • BBC Nature Wildlife - a page on the BBC nature website dedicated to Dragonflies.

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Dragonfly Yahoo Group and mailing list

  • An active dragonfly e-mailing list exists. Members of the list can participate in open discussions with other enthusiasts about any aspects of dragonfly behaviour, biology or any other relevant subject. Contributors are world wide but the list has quite a strong North American bias. If you wish to join the list, please send an e-mail to Dennis Paulson - dpaulson@ups.edu. Dennis is the list organiser.