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A brief historical account of Australian odonale taxonomy precedes a list of the current generic, specific and subspecific names of Australian Odonata. with authorship and date. An annotated bibliography follows, covering all these taxa and their synonyms; each entry includes the names of taxa described in the work, arranged by family, the species-group names being placed in their current genera.

Until now, H. mirabilis was known to survive only at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria. However, although previously thought to have died out in the Goulburn Valley, also in Victoria, the sp. still occurs there – on floodplain lagoons (billabongs) of the Goulbum R. at Alexandra, and lagoons of the tributary Yea R. at Yea, some 30 km downstream from Alexandra. More significant in terms of conservation is its discovery in Mt William National Park, NE Tasmania. H. mirabilis can no longer be regarded as an endangered sp.

The subfamilial classification of the Protoneuridae is reviewed. No clear-cut divisions are apparent between the 3 currently recognised subfamilies (the Caconeurinae, Disparoneurinae and Protoneurinae), based on an examination of adult morphology in representatives of 20 of the 23 genera. The Protoneuridae should be regarded as comprising a single subfamily.

The Australasian dragonfly A. brevistyla is compared with its congeners, all geographically distant, and with spp. in other aeshnine and allied anactine genera. The results of these comparisons emphasise its taxonomic isolation, in particular from the South American spp. of Aeshna to which it had been thought to be allied. It appears to be more closely allied to the specialised Papuan and New Caledonian genus Oreaeschna, of which it may represent a forerunner. A new, monotypic subgenus of Aeshna. Adversaeschna, is described to receive it.

R.J. TILLYARD (1907, Proc. Linn. Soc. NSW. 32: 394-399) described a second species of the Australian genus Diphlebia Sclys, as D. ”euphæoïdes”. TILLYARD adhered to this spelling elsewhere in this paper and in his later works, as did Y. SJOSTEDT to a corrected version, euphoeoides (1917, Ark. Zool. 11(11): 1-44). D.E. KIMMINS (1969, Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent.) 23: 287-314), J.A.L. WATSON (1969, ./. Ausl. ent. Soc. 8: 153-160) and, most recently, C.A. BRIDGES (1991, Catalogue of the family-group, genus-group and species group names of the Odonata of the world. Bridges, Urbana). However, M.A. LIEFTINCK (1951, Am. Mus. Novit. 1488: 1-46) spelled the name euphaeoides, as did F.C, FR ASER (1960. A Handbook of the dragonflies of Australasia, R. Zool. Soc, N. S. W. Sydney), J.A.L. WATSON (1974, J Aust. ent. Soc. 13: 137-149), W.E. STEWART (1980, Aust. J. Zool. (Suppl.) 75: 1-72, D.A.L. DAVIES & P. TOBIN (1984, The dragonflies of the world: a systematic list of the extant species of Odonata, Vol. 1, Zygoptera, Anisozygoptera, S.I.O., Utrecht), S. TSUDA (1991, A distributional list of the world Odonata 1991, Tsuda, Osaka), W.W.K. HOUSTON & J.A.L. WATSON (1988, Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 6, Ephemeroptera, Megaloptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Austr. Gov. Pubi. Serv., Canberra), and J.A.L. WATSON, G. THEISCHINGER & H.M. ABBEY (1991, The Australian dragonflies, C.S.I.R.O., Canberra & Melbourne). C.A. BRIDGES (1991, ibid.) placed euphaeoides "Davies & Tobin” as an incorrect subsequent spelling and subjective synonym of euphæoides Tillyard. Which is the correct spelling? R.J. TILLYARD (1907, ibid.) wrote that "The specific name” (euphaeoides) "is adopted on the suggestion of M. Martin so as to maintain the uniformity of specific nomenclature in use for this genus” (p. 398). The only other species of Diphlebia then known was lestoides Selys, based on the generic name Lestes Leach 1815, which suggests that Tillyard based ” euphæoïdes” on the generic name E

Odonata that lay exophytically may. at times, oviposit on dry surfaces. In some cases this behaviour is linked with hatching that is delayed until the surface is flooded (PS. CORBET, 1962, A biology of dragonflies, Witherby, London), In others, oviposition appears to be triggered by smooth surfaces (e.g. concrete, vehicles) that might simulate the appearance of water (R. ROWE, 1987, The dragonflies of New Zealand, Auckland Univ. Press, Auckland; J.A.L. WATSON & A.F. O’FARRELL, 1991, The insects of Australia, 2nd ed. Melbourne Univ. Press, Melbourne). A recent example in this second category has involved significant damage to new motor vehicles in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. At the end of the wet summer in northern Australia large numbers of Odonata emerge from the shallow, warm and productive waters of the floodplains (J.A.L. WATSON, 1980, Habitat 8(4): 3- 5). Some disperse far from water, including the libellulids Macrodiplax cora (Kaup in Brauer), Pantala flavescens (Fabr.) and Trapezostigma loewii (Kaup in Brauer), and form vagrant flocks, often behaving as ’fliers’ rather than ’perchers’. The ’Wet’of 1990-91 was the wettest ever recorded in Darwin and the flocks of dragonflies were, it was reported, unusually abundant. Problems arose when the females laid their eggs on the shiny horizonal surfaces of new vehicles, especially pale ones, at a vehicle-importer’s yard in Darwin. The egg masses took the form of stripes, correlating with the oviposition patterns of Pantala and at least some species of Trapezostigma, the females of which lay while flying forward in or out of tandem (J.G. NEEDHAM H.B. HEYWOOD, 1929, A handbook of the dragonflies of North America, Thomas, Springfield and Baltimore; ROWE, 1987). Unfortunately, no specimens of the adults were obtained, nor could dragonfly eggs removed from the vehicles be identified. Corbet in ROWE (1987), however, reported that Pantala sometimes lays on motor cars.

The last-stage larva of A. asthenes (Till.) is described and illustrated, and compared with larvae of the allied genus Telephlebia Selys. Although the last-stage larval Antipodophlebia is terrestrial, it is not known whether earlier stages are aquatic.

The montane chain of eastern Australia includes at least four regions where ecological and physiographic boundaries coincide with taxonomic discontinuities in Odonata, Plecoptera and Megaloptera: the gap between the Paluma Range and Hungella (Queensland); the Carnarvon Gorge (Queensland); the southern margin of the northern tablelands of New South Wales; and the northern limit of the southern highlands, near Canberra. The taxonomic disjunctions are, in most cases, at or below the level of closely related species-pairs, and are probably the outcomes of pleistocene climatic fluctuations.

A short biography is given of A.F. O’FARRELL (bom 9 Jan. 1917, Assam, India; inaugural Professor of Zoology at the University of New England, Australia), a student, and mentor of students, of Australian Odonata, with notes on his work and a list of his papers on dragonflies. ANTONY FREDERICK LOUIS O’FARRELL was born on 9 January, 1917, at Badlipar, Assam, India, of Irish parentage; his father spent most of his life in Assam, working for the Brahmaputra Steam Navigation Company. An only child. Tony accompanied his parents to England when his father retired in 1920-21. His father’s early death, and his own serious illness, dogged Tony’s childhood and delayed the start of his formal education until he was 12-13 years old. His informal education, however, started during his convalescence in a farmhouse surrounded by the largely unspoilt forests of the Weald, where his zeal for the study of insects was kindled. His entomological activities continued at Wimbledon College in London and, in due course. he graduated from the Royal College of Science in 1939, with First Class Honours and the Forbes Memorial Medal in Entomology. Plans for a Ph. D. were thwarted by, in Tony’s words, "one Adolf Hitler, who decided to turn on World War II in spite of my good intentions ’’. Declared unfit for flying duties, Tony became a part-time soldier in the Berkshire and East Sussex units of the Home Guard ("Dad's Army"!), while working, from 1940-42, on problems caused by elaterid beetle larvae (wireworms) to crops grown on old pastures ploughedfor conversion to arable land. By 1942, the emergency storage of wheat and other foodstuffs, often in unsuitable places, had produced major problems with insect pests, and Tony was posted to Belfast to work on them. There he met and. in 1944, married MARY ISABEL MILLEN.

S. ofarrelli sp. n. is described from males collected near Kenilworth, in south-eastern Queensland. The new sp. is compared with its closest ally. S. claviculata Tillyard, from north-eastern Queensland.

The Australian dragonfly fauna includes slightly more than 100 species of Zygoptera and almost 200 of Anisoptera; there are two endemic families and one subfamily, and a high degree of endemism at generic and specific levels. Gondwana elements make up at least 15% and perhaps as much as 40% of the fauna, whereas 40% are of northern origin, with a lower degree of endemism. Most of the southern species breed in permanent flowing water, mainly along the eastern seaboard, with some in the north, north-west and south-west. The northern dragonflies penetrate southern Australia to a variable degree, principally along the east coast. Adult dragonflies occur throughout the arid inland; most are opportunistic wanderers. None has a drought-resistant larva, although drought-resistant and terrestrial larvae occur elsewhere in Australia. The conservation of Australia Odonata involves problems arising from habitat destruction or the alienation of fresh waters for human consumption or agriculture. Pollution does not threaten any Australian species of dragonfly, although it may affect local dragonfly faunas; adults and larvae of appropriately chosen species can serve to monitor water quality.