[Odonata-l] New Dragonfly Book

[Dave McShaffrey]

Folks - Larry Rosche, Judy Semrock, Linda Gilbert and Jennifer Brumfield
have a new book out.  It is Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio,
and I'm guessing many of you will want to get a copy.  It is such a
substantial upgrade over the first edition that I would venture to say it is
a new book.  It is 300 pages long, spiral bound on substantial paper in a
9x6" format.  The first section is dragonfly and damselfly characters; each
is illustrated by a photograph. There is a section on nymphs, an account by
Linda of raising Aeshna from eggs to adulthood (also illustrated), a chapter
on nymphs with photos to take them to family, and a wonderful section on
what dragonflies DO once they emerge.  Then come the species accounts; each
family, genus and species has a page.  A typical species page has a map
indicating which of the 13 northeastern Ohio counties the species is found
in, a bar diagram showing the flight season, length ranges for males and
females, breeding habitat, field characters, and observation notes. There
are two or more reasonably sized photos for each species.  At quick glance,
the photos range in quality from good to excellent (with a couple of
stinkers here and there, to be honest).  Most of the excellent ones belong
to Judy, but over 23 photographers contributed, including Dennis Paulson and
Giff Beaton.  Families are grouped with page headings and "thumbtabs" of the
same color to facilitate finding a particular species.  There is a species
index.  A series of full-color illustrations of most (all?) of the species
is at the end of the book, along with references to the pages.  These were
done by Jennifer Brumfield and are close to the photo-realistic
illustrations in Ed Lam's book, although slightly simplified and with the
key characters just slightly exaggerated to ease identification.  Each
illustration is done from the angle that best shows off the characters, thus
for many of the clubtails we get almost face-on views with the abdomens held
up as if obelisking; one can see the face, thoracic stripes, clubs and
dorsal abdominal surfaces in this one view.  Skimmers are generally viewed
from above, damselflies obliquely, and spreadwings from above and to the
side.  A quick reference guide has additional illustrations such as the
dorsal views of abdominal segment 2 for mosaic darners, or lateral views of
the terminal appendages of striped emeralds - not to mention a fantastic
table of male bluet comparison drawings showing abdominal segment 2, the
postocular spots, and a lateral view of the terminal segments.  There is
also a glossary and a checklist containing about 140 species. Renee Boronka
assures me the text weighs 2 pounds - she has mailed a few copies out.

Since the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ohio is now out of print, this is
certainly the best book available for those of us in Ohio.  I used the first
edition extensively in southeastern Ohio and it worked for the vast majority
of specimens I encountered there; it might not hold up as well in Cincinnati
and global warming has already added a species or two to northeastern Ohio,
much to Larry's chagrin.  Still, even if you have a copy of DDO, you will
want this book simply for its beauty and the fantastic field knowledge
packed into it.  It will also be useful throughout the Midwest.

Larry is an incredible field biologist who also creates range maps for the
Peterson Field Guide series.  He and Judy work with the Cleveland Museum of
Natural History.  Linda is a park naturalist with the Geauga Park district;
Jennifer works as a naturalist and illustrator.  Many of you probably
remember Larry, Judy and Linda from the GLOM meeting in Cleveland several
years ago.  BTW - the museum is hosting a conference September 4th to 6th
with Giff Beaton as Keynote speaker on the 5th.  Giff, I still need to get a
copy of your book, so I hope you're bringing a few!

I will put a more substantial review on the Ohio Odonata Society website as
soon as I get a chance  (school is starting, I just got stuck with being
department head, and we have construction underway at our field station,
which I direct).  In any event, don't wait for that - buy the book for $25
at:

http://www.cmnh.org/product/002651/AGuidetotheDragonfliesDamselfliesofNEOhio

Proceeds benefit the museum's Natural Areas Division, which is a leader in
preserving critical habitat in northeastern Ohio - including some great ode
hotspots.  I bought 3 copies - one to get signed, one for Marietta, and one
for my Avon house.

For more on the symposium that Giff will be speaking at:

http://www.cmnh.org/site/conservation/conservationsymposium.aspx

you can register online.

Dave

Dave McShaffrey
Marietta College
(740) 376-4743
www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd