An identification guide for all 167 known species of Odonata (dragonflies & damselflies) of the states of Arizona (USA) and Sonora (Mexico).

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. A lavishly illustrated, comprehensive, and accessible natural history that reveals the beauty and diversity of one of the world’s oldest and most popular insect groups Offers a complete guide to the evolution, life cycles, biology, anatomy, behavior, and habitats of dragonflies and damselflies Introduces the 39 families of dragonflies and damselflies through exemplary species accounts Features tips on field observation and lab research, and information on threats and conservation

This lavishly illustrated book examines the distribution, ecology, conservation status, and biogeography of 176 species of dragonflies in the southern plains of the United States, where twelve ecoregions converge. The topics discussed, such as phenotypic variation and ecology, are applicable and of interest across the United States and much of north America, and will appeal to researchers and dragonfly enthusiasts alike. A series of maps, including a distributional map by specific locality of occurrence, indicate level of documentation and allow the reader to visualize the biogeographical associations of a given species. These maps also encourage citizen scientists to contribute documentation wherever they spend time in the field. Context-driven chapters, including one on the region’s rich paleontological history, blend environmental history and biogeography, giving the book a fresh perspective on the natural world while providing a rich summary of the odonates. Dragonflies at a Biographical Crossroads: The Odonata of Oklahoma and Complexities Beyond Its Borders will be sought out by dragonfly researchers and enthusiasts, entomologists, amateur naturalists, paleontologists, conservation biologists, educators, regional historians, and those seeking to meld the disciplines of cultural and environmental history with biology. It will also be readily accessible to the lay public. Dragonflies combine the visually stunning with acrobatic fireworks in ways no other insect can hope to combine.

This guide is an updated sequel to the ground-breaking 1991 guide by the same two authors.

•  This new work treats in depth all 273 species recorded in the region
•  Features more than 700 excellent color photographs, most of living butterflies photographed in the field
•  Provides more than 300 regional larval host plant records
•  Plus, color images of common nectar sources, caterpillars and habitats, range maps for all but the most common and widespread species, and an illustrated comparison guide to the difficult-to-identify duskywings.

A young person’s story of growing up gay in a rural Mormon town and the wild places where he found refuge. This intimate record lays bare one person's experience growing up in a rural Mormon community and struggling to reconcile his sexual orientation with the religious doctrine of his childhood. Weaving together prose, poetry, and stories scrawled on the margins of high school notebooks, Jonathan T. Bailey encounters truth-seeing owls, anachronistic gourds, and the hard-edged realities of family and church. In When I Was Red Clay, he navigates desert landscapes, mental health, and the loss of faith with unflinching honesty and biting humor.

North American deserts—lands of little water—have long been home to a surprising diversity of aquatic life, from fish to insects and mollusks. With European settlement, however, water extraction, resource exploitation, and invasive species set many of these native aquatic species on downward spirals. In this book, conservationists dedicated to these creatures document the history of their work, the techniques and philosophies that inform it, and the challenges and opportunities of the future. A precursor to this book, Battle Against Extinction, laid out the scope of the problem and related conservation activities through the late 1980s. Since then, many nascent conservation programs have matured, and researchers have developed new technologies, improved and refined methods, and greatly expanded our knowledge of the myriad influences on the ecology and dynamics of these species. Standing between Life and Extinction brings the story up to date. While the future for some species is more secure than thirty years ago, others are less fortunate. Calling attention not only to iconic species like the razorback sucker, Gila trout, and Devils Hole pupfish, but also to other fishes and obscure and fascinating invertebrates inhabiting intermittent aquatic habitats, this book explores the scientific, social, and political challenges of preserving these aquatic species and their habitats amid an increasingly charged political discourse and in desert regions characterized by a growing human population and rapidly changing climate.

This monograph is the first of its kind devoted entirely to the dragonfly nymphs of North America north of Mexico, the focus being accurate identification of the 330 species of Anisoptera that occur in the region. Nymphal external morphology is described and illustrated in detail, and all terms needed to navigate the dichotomous keys are defined. Species are tabulated with references that provide the most detailed, accurate descriptions for each; species that are inadequately described are so indicated. The key separating the seven families in the region contains several new characters. The families are then covered separately: Aeshnidae (13 genera), Gomphidae (17 genera), Petaluridae (2 genera), Cordulegastridae (2 genera), Macromiidae (2 genera), Corduliidae (7 genera), and Libellulidae (29 genera). Each family is further characterized, followed by a generic key. A drawing of the habitus and diagnostic details for each genus are provided, along with additional diagnostic remarks and notes on habitat and life cycle; for each genus, a map shows its geographic distribution in North America. Full-grown nymphs of all known species of each genus are keyed and diagnosed; characters that apply to earlier instars are noted. Morphological variation in character states was analyzed in order to assess the reliability of previously utilized characters and to discover new characters. Most of the characters used to distinguish all levels of taxa are illustrated; a total of 702 figures, comprising 1,800 original drawings, along with selected photographs where necessary for clarity, accompany the keys. Measurements of total length, head width, and other variables for each species are provided in tables. Difficulties with past keys and descriptions, including errors, omissions and other shortcomings, are addressed. The importance of nymph characters in helping solve generic and specific distinctions and their role in phylogenetic studies is emphasized. Methods for collecting, rearing, and preserving dragonfly nymphs and exuviae are presented. The final chapter discusses research opportunities on North American Anisoptera nymphs, including taxonomic needs, studies on structure and function, life history and microhabitat, water quality indices and conservation efforts. The habitus drawings of all genera are arranged according to family in five plates (Appendix I); although the book is intended as a lab manual, these plates conveniently allow for comparison based on nymph shape making field identification to genus possible in many cases. Appendix II contains a brief history of dragonfly nymph studies in North America. A glossary and an index to scientific names are included.