List of Odonata species of Great Britain

• Merritt, R., N. W. Moore and B. C. Eversham, Atlas of the dragonflies of Britain and Ireland, HMSO
• Parr, A. J., Dragonfly movement and migration in Britain and Ireland, Journal of the British Dragonfly Society Vol. 12 No. 2 pp. 33–50
• Parr, Adrian, An Annotated List of the Odonata of Britain and Ireland, Atropos No. 11 pp. 10–20

New species since 1990

• Scarlet Dragonfly, first recorded at Hayle Kimbro Pool, The Lizard, Cornwall on 7 August 1995, with a small number of further records at scattered locations throughout Britain
• Banded Darter, recorded just once to date, near Tredegar, Monmouthshire on 16 August 1995, although a darter seen on 29 July 2003 at Hickling Broad, Norfolk, which had dark bands on its wings, may have been this species
• Lesser Emperor, first recorded at Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire on 13 June 1996 and now occurring annually; breeding evidence was found at Hayle Kimbro Pool and also at Bake Fishing Lakes, Cornwall in 1999, and the species appears to be resident at Dungeness, Kent
• Green Darner, first recorded at Penlee Battery, Cornwall on 9 September 1998 – the first record for Europe, with several other records in South West England that autumn, but none since to date
• Small Red-eyed Damselfly, first recorded in Essex on 17 July 1999 – now a well-established breeding species across much of southern England
• Southern Emerald Damselfly, first recorded at Winterton Dunes, Norfolk on 30 July 2002 ; in 2003 & 2004, the species was again seen here and at Sandwich Bay, Kent, but there have been no subsequent sightings at either location.
• Common Winter Damselfly, first recorded at Tonna, Neath in South Wales in December 2008.
• Yellow-spotted Emerald, first record at Carlton Marshes, Suffolk, in July 2018.

Extinct species and casual breeders

• Dainty Damselfly – only ever known from marshes along the Thames Estuary in Essex, first recorded in 1946, and last recorded in 1952. Rediscovered 2010.
• Norfolk Damselfly – only ever known from the Norfolk Broads between 1902 and 1957
• Orange-spotted Emerald – only ever known from two areas in southern England, one around the River Stour and Moors River in east Dorset, where the species was recorded from 1820 to 1963, and the other on the River Tamar in Devon where the species was recorded in 1946 only.

• Yellow-winged Darter – this species has a pattern of establishing small breeding colonies following influxes, but none of these have become permanently established
• Red-veined Darter – following influxes in previous years, this species, like Yellow-winged Darter, has formed temporary breeding colonies. However, since the mid-1990s, the number of these colonies has increased and many have continued to be present from year-to-year, so this species is now better regarded as a successful colonist.

  Non-native introductions

The list

• Eng to indicate that the species' breeding range includes England
• Scot to indicate that the species' breeding range includes Scotland
• Wales to indicate that the species' breeding range includes Wales

• Ex to indicate a former breeding species, now extinct in Britain
• RC to indicate that the species is a recent colonist
• V to indicate a species only recorded as a vagrant

  Suborder Zygoptera (Damselflies)">Damselfly">Zygoptera (Damselflies)

Family [Calopterygidae] (Demoiselles)

Family [Lestidae] (Emerald damselflies)

Family [Coenagrionidae] (Blue, blue-tailed & red damselflies)

Family [Platycnemididae] (White-legged damselflies)

Suborder Anisoptera (Dragonflies)">Dragonfly">Anisoptera (Dragonflies)

Family [Gomphidae] (Club-tailed Dragonflies)

Family [Aeshnidae] (Hawkers and Emperors)

Family [Cordulegastridae] (Golden-ringed Dragonflies)

Family [Corduliidae] (Emerald dragonflies)

Family [Libellulidae] (Chasers, Skimmers and Darters)

Rejected species, species of uncertain provenance, predictions and Channel Islands species