Klaas-Douwe 'KD' B Dijkstra developed an interest in natural history as a child living in Egypt. Here he made his first observations of dragonflies as a 12-year-old, having to invent his own scientific names for them because he had no literature. The discovery of the first Anax ephippiger in The Netherlands in 1995 incited an active involvement in Dutch dragonfly work. KD was a founding member of the Dutch society for odonatology in 1997, as editor of its journal Brachytron, and co-edited and co-authored the handbook of Dutch Odonata published in 2002. He obtained an MSc in biology at Leiden University in 1998, developing a passion for Africa during fieldwork in Uganda in 1995. As a research associate of the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis in The Netherlands, KD has worked on the systematics and biogeography of tropical African Odonata since 2001. In 2005, he shared the Worldwide Dragonfly Association outstanding achievement award for this work.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Regional guide to dragonflies
Identification
Appendices
Index

A revised and thoroughly updated edition of the definitive guide to identifying dragonflies in Europe.
The first edition of the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe was a ground-breaking identification guide that led to an increase in Odonata recording across Europe.
The second edition includes fully revised regional guides and identification texts, updated distribution maps and conservation statuses, illustrated accounts for five species that have been discovered in the region since the first edition, updated checklists and taxonomy, and new photographs throughout, as well as an introduction to larvae identification. Each species is lavishly illustrated with artworks of males, females and variations, as well as close-ups of important characters.