Suborder Anisoptera - Dragonflies

Excellent field guide on the dragonflies of North America. Gorgeous illustrations!

Excellent popular book written by two experts, with emphasis on Texan fauna, full of magnificent photos and most helpful information. (Was a bargain at B&N, too, when I bought it a couple of years ago.)

This tricky-to-find, heavy, and expensive book is the definitive book on North American dragonflies. All the Anisoptera of the U.S., Canada, the Greater Antilles, and the northern tier of Mexican states are covered. Not the kind of hefty book one would use as a field guide (although I do carry it in a backpack sometimes), but there are several important features that make this guide absolutely indispensible to anyone serious about dragonfly identification:

-Names, detailed descriptions, and illustrations for all the external features of a dragonfly adult and larva (including detailed diagrams of wing venation, thoracic patterns, and genitalia)

Wonderful photographic guide. For nearly every species, it has two large photographs, one of the male and one of the female. Lots of neat features, including a page of side-by-side comparisons of darners' lateral thoracic stripes.