About this site

Archineura incarnata

This website aims to provide information on the damselflies of the superfamily Calopterygoidea, also known informally as Caloptera damselflies. These insects are among the most colourful and attractive of all dragonflies, as the name Caloptera (‘beautiful wings’) implies.

There are about 470 recognized Caloptera species worldwide, grouped into eight families, of which Calopterygidae (Demoiselles or Jewelwings), Hetaerinidae (Rubyspots) and Chlorocyphidae (Jewels) are the best known. Caloptera damselflies are most speciose in the Oriental Region, where nearly half of the known species occur.

We hope that this website will eventually also

  • present treatises on the Caloptera diversity in Thailand, Vietnam and various other South-East Asian countries with descriptive texts and photographs of each species.
  • include an annotated taxonomic checklist of the Caloptera species of the World compiled by Matti Hämäläinen.
  • contain other material related to these insects.

Book project

This website will act as the homepage of a book preliminarily titled ‘Demoiselle Damselflies - Winged Jewels of Silvery Streams’ and authored by Sami Karjalainen and Matti Hämäläinen. This book is aimed at the general reader and it will showcase the diverse beauty and interesting behaviour of the demoiselles (Calopterygidae). It is presently in preparation and will be published in early 2013.

Neurobasis chinensis Rhinocypha arguta

Contact

Dr Matti Hämäläinen
Research Associate of
Netherlands Centre for
Biodiversity Naturalis
matti.hamalainen-X-helsinki.fi

Dr Sami Karjalainen
sk-X-korento.net
www.korento.net

Replace -X- by @

Links