Few animal groups can represent the greatest [insects] and most threatened [freshwater] biodiversity on earth as well as dragonflies and damselflies, perhaps the best-known and most colorful of all aquatic insects.  Now, Klaas-Douwe B Dijkstra (Naturalis and Stellenbosch University) and colleague Viola Clausnitzer (Senckenberg Institute) have published “The Dragonflies and Damselflies of Eastern Africa: Handbook for all Odonata from Sudan to Zimbabwe.”  This handbook provides an unprecedented resource for freshwater biodiversity conservation in Africa: it treats two-thirds of African species (all 500 in eastern Africa) on 264 full-color pages (A4 size) with 360 photos and 1120 other illustrations.  The book is published by the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium) with support from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (The Netherlands), JRS, and research funding by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany).

With JRS Biodiversity foundation support to Stellenbosch University, the project team can distribute 100 free copies to African researchers and students. The organizers can also sponsor 20 delegates to attend a training workshop on applying freshwater insects in biodiversity monitoring, planned in KwaZulu-Natal in December 2015.  More details about the community and attendance at the training workshop can be found through the African Dragonflies Facebook page.