Field Guide to the damselflies of New Guinea
By Vincent Kalkman & Albert Orr – (2013)
Soft Cover: 24cm x 17cm.
ISSN: 1386-3460
Brachytron 16 Supplement, Dutch Dragonfly Journal, Den Haag the Netherlands.
Language: English/Bahasa Indonesian
This fine publication has double merit in its intentions, first not just to further our (non Papuan residents) knowledge of the Papuasian Zygopteran fauna but also to serve as a tool of encouragement and education for the people of New Guinea, to enlighten them to the amazing damselfly fauna of their homeland. The publisher and authors have donated 500 of the 1200 copies printed to universities and other public institutions throughout New Guinea to inspire interest in local biodiversity and its use by New Guinea’s people, which is nothing short of a very generous and noble gesture.
The book is bilingual with the English version in the front half of the book and the Bahasa Indo version in the back half. The many superb colour illustrations and monochrome drawings followed by sixteen excellent colour field photos are clustered together near the middle of the book.
The book is designed to deal with the lowland damsels of north New Guinea, but it acts as an aid to identify nearly all ‘mature male’ damselflies of New Guinea and some surrounding areas to at least genus level if not the individual species. Approximately 60% of the known 285 species of damselfly to New Guinea are illustrated and included in the text. The text for each species is brief yet very helpful which includes notes on altitudinal range, habitat etc. and with the assistance of keys, identification of many species should be possible.
I guess I could be a bit biased having become a big fan of Albert Orr’s magnificent colour illustrations, but this is a fine piece of work and it should be on the book shelves of all enthusiasts of the Odonata and anyone with an interest in the natural history of New Guinea. This book also received the prestigious Whitley Award for 2013, presented annually by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales Australia, for new and original science and or information on fauna of the Australasian region.
Rod Rice
Principal Reviewer
Nature & Travel Books