Rosser W. Garrison, Natalia von Ellenrieder, and Jerry A. Louton
Johns Hopkins University Press,
Baltimore, MD
2010: 490 pp
ISBN 978-0-8018-9670-5
$84.37 (hardcover) 

Highly detailed, meticulous, and thorough, Damselfly Genera of the New World will delight odonatologists, entomologists, and nature enthusiasts alike. It is a reference book, with usefulness to those studying Odonata or their systematics. Zygopteran systematics has been in a state of flux over the last several years, with morphological and molecular studies in disagreement about family and even order monophyly (e.g., Rehn, 2003; Bybee et al., 2008; Carle et al., 2008). From amongst this chaos comes a book with an organismal focus on the morphology and biogeography of these remarkably diverse taxa.

The introduction provides a review of damselfly biology, morphology, collection and preservation methods, a comprehensive list of New World Odonata collections, and a who’s who of historical odonatology. There are 24 color plates, which provide the reader with an idea of the wide range of coloration, size, and general appearance found among damselfly taxa.

Garrison et al. consider Zygoptera to comprise 12 families. The key for distinguishing among zygopteran families (Chapter 2) uses wing vein, body, and genitalic characters. Accompanying the verbose yet well-worded couplets are impressively and accurately rendered drawings of important structures.

Full wings are scanned for each genus (in some cases for several species to show intrageneric variation) in the family chapters. Not only could these images be useful for keying out specimens in the field, but also they would be invaluable for those studying morphological systematics who do not have access to some of the more rare taxa. Each chapter contains keys for both males and females.

Along with a species list, range map and classification status, Garrison et al. describe, in general, each genus’ behavior and preferred habitat (where known). Their literature cited is a comprehensive list of zygopteran references, yet the overall weight and size of Damselfly Genera of the New World is not too big to carry into the field.

Partly due to the ambitious scope of this tome, the layout can be hard on the eyes, due to the sheer volume of data and imagery on each page. Despite this fact, Damselfly Genera of the New World will be a valuable reference for anyone studying entomology. This book would be an appropriate book for student learning as well, thanks to the high quality of the figures and plates. Traditionally, Coenagrionidae has been a family that has been difficult to create “good” keys for, but Garrison et al. appear to have found a combination of characters that might ease student frustration when keying out specimens.

In summary, Rosser Garrison, Natalia von Ellenrieder, Jerry Louton, and The Johns Hopkins University Press have provided us with a beautiful and useful book that will be undoubtedly be considered by future generations as a classic. One cautionary statement is that readers may find the urge to key out damselflies in their collection to be overwhelming!

References Cited

Bybee, S.M., Ogden, T.H., Branham, M.A., and M. F. Whiting, 2008.Molecules, morphology and fossils: a comprehensive approach to odonate phylogeny and the evolution of the odonate wing. Cladistics 23: 1–38.

Carle F. L., K. M. Kjer, and M. L. May, 2008.Evolution of Odonata, with special reference to Coenagrionoidea (Zygoptera). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 66: 37-44.

Rehn, A., 2003.Phylogenetic analysis of higher-level relationships of Odonata, Systematic Entomology, 28: 181–239.

Jessica L. Ware
Department of Biology
Rutgers University
Newark, NJ 07102
E-mail: jware42@andromeda.rutgers.edu

American Entomologist
Vol. 57, No.2, Summer 2011