Critical species of Odonata in the Neotropics

This report summarizes progress that has been made during the past five years toward the understanding of Neotropical Odonata.It also presents a list of critical species and sites, threats to Odonata conservation in the region, and priorities for further research.This region, the richest in the world for Odonata, must be a focus of intense research and conservation efforts. REGIONAL DEFINITIONThe region is usually defined as extending from the lowlands (but not the northern highlands) of Mexico south through Central America and South America, excluding the southwestern temperate forests of Chile and Argentina (which belong to the Austral or Notogeic region), and including the islands of the Caribbean.However, for the purposes of this report it is defined as the entire region from all of Mexico south through all of South America, including the temperate zones of that region. STATE OF THE ART Studies on taxonomy, ecology and biodiversityThis report summarizes research published from 1999-2003, a five-year period chosen to follow that of a report submitted by the author to the Odonata Specialist Group at its 1999 meeting in Hamilton, New York.The rate of discovery of Odonata in this region continues to be high.Forty-seven new species were described from the region in 1999-2003 (Table 1), from countries that have resident odonatologists (Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil) or were visited by researchers from elsewhere (El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile).This figure is slightly below the average rate of species descriptions for the past two decades.During that period, 294 species were described from the Neotropical region (Fig. 1).