Extensive surveys for odonates were completed in protected areas throughout Guangdong Province, south China during the period 1997-2005. Previously unreported data from these surveys is presented here and, together with published data, is used to catalogue the zygopteran fauna of Guangdong. Checklists are provided for the Zygoptera of Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong. Sinosticta debra…

Indocypha cyanicauda Zhang & Hämäläinen, spec. nov. (holotype ♂ from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China; deposited at the Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology) is described and illustrated from both sexes and compared with its congener I. vittata. Brief notes on the ecology and behaviour of the new species are provided.

The calopterygines Archineura incarnata and Atrocalopteryx melli are subtropical habitat specialists, endemic to China, and sensitive to environmental change. We identified several sites with environmental deterioration from which the species seem to have disappeared; these species can be used as indicators of human disturbance. In this paper their distribution in China is mapped and information…

Anisoptera emergence in the seasonal tropics was monitored at a 35-ha managed wetland site in Hong Kong from February 2004 to November 2007. Exuviae records of 18 species from multiple emergence screens, exuviae traps and transect surveys were combined. The presence of adults during this period was also monitored. The study site comprised a mosaic…

A new genus, Sinocnemis, gen. n., is established to receive two new species of platycnemidid described here as Sinocnemis yangbingi, sp. n., from Emeishan, Sichuan, China and Sinocnemis dumonti, sp. n. from Xishui, Guizhou, China.

Indocypha catopta sp. nov. (holotype ♂: China, Guizhou, Maolan National Nature Reserve 28 vii 2008, to be deposited in the Collection of Aquatic Insects and Soil Animals, Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou) is described, illustrated and compared with all known Indocypha species. The uncertain taxonomic status of some Chinese Indocypha species is…

A synopsis of the genus Philosina is provided. Larvae of the two known species, P. alba and P. buchi are described for the first time. The distribution of both species is discussed and information on behaviour and habitat is summarized. The specialized larvae of Philosina show a strong resemblance to those of Rhinagrion, suggesting that…

In montane forest of south-western Yunnan, China, a female of Ceriagrion fallax was observed and photographed preying on a small web-building spider of the genus Leucauge. This is the first record of plucking an orb-weaver spider by a representative of the genus Ceriagrion. A brief discussion on the evolution of spider feeding behaviour in odonates…

In this paper we record a likely instance of ovo-viviparity in a chlorocyphid damselfly from south-western China. If confirmed, this will be the first record of live birthing in the Odonata: indeed in any member of the Palaeoptera. The widespread Asian damselfly Heliocypha perforata (Percheron, 1835) is proposed to be, at least facultatively, viviparous. A