Editing Damselfly (section)

==Distribution and diversity==
Odonates are found on all the continents except Antarctica.<ref name=Nilsson>{{cite book|author=Nilsson, Anders |title=Aquatic insects of North Europe: A taxonomic handbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mlAgAQAAMAAJ |year=1997 |publisher=Apollo Books |isbn=978-87-88757-07-1 |page=14}}</ref> Although some species of dragonfly have wide distributions, damselflies tend to have smaller ranges. Most odonates breed in fresh-water; a few damselflies in the family Caenagrionidae breed in brackish water (and a single dragonfly species breeds in seawater).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Observations and Experiments on Dragon-Flies in Brackish Water |first=Raymond C.|last= Osburn |journal=The American Naturalist|volume=40|issue=474|year= 1906|pages= 395–399|doi=10.1086/278632 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1431341|doi-access=free|bibcode=1906ANat...40..395O }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Adaptations of Nymphs of a Marine Dragonfly, Erythrodiplax berenice, to Wide Variations in Salinity|first=William A. |last=Dunson|journal=Physiological Zoology|volume=53|issue=4|year=1980|pages=445–452|doi=10.1086/physzool.53.4.30157882 |s2cid=87698039 }}</ref> Dragonflies are more affected by pollution than are damselflies. The presence of odonates indicates that an ecosystem is of good quality. The most species-rich environments have a range of suitable microhabitats, providing suitable water bodies for breeding.<ref name=UCMP>{{cite web |title=Introduction to the Odonata |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/uniramia/odonatoida.html |publisher=UCMP Berkeley |access-date=13 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827225730/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/uniramia/odonatoida.html |archive-date=27 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=diversity />

Although most damselflies live out their lives within a short distance of where they were hatched, some species, and some individuals within species, disperse more widely. [[Ischnura|Forktails]] in the family [[Coenagrionidae]] seem particularly prone to do this, large male [[boreal bluet]]s (''Enallagma boreale'') in British Columbia often migrating, while smaller ones do not.<ref name=Acorn/> These are known to leave their waterside habitats, flying upwards till lost from view, and presumably being dispersed to far off places by the stronger winds found at high altitudes.<ref name=Acorn/> In this way they may appear in a locality where no damselflies were to be seen the day before. [[Rambur's forktail]] (''Ischnura ramburii'') has been found, for example, on [[Oil platform|oil rigs]] far out in the [[Gulf of Mexico]].<ref name=Paulson2011/>

The distribution and diversity of damselfly species in the [[biogeographical]] regions is summarized here. (There are no damselflies in the [[Antarctic]].) Note that some species are widespread and occur in multiple regions.<ref name=diversity />

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed"
|- style="font-size:86%"
! Family
! [[Indomalaya|Oriental]]
! [[Neotropical]]
! [[Australasia]]n
! [[Afrotropical]]
! [[Palaearctic]]
! [[Nearctic]]
! [[Oceania|Pacific]]
! World 
|-
| [[Hemiphlebiidae]]||||||1||||||||||1
|-
| [[Lestidae]]||40||42||29||17||18||18||3||151
|-
| [[Perilestidae]]||||19||||||||||||19
|-
| [[Synlestidae]]||18||1||8||11||6||||||39
|-
| [[Platystictidae]]||136||43||44||||||1||1||224
|-
| [[Amphipterygidae]]||||4||||||||||||4
|-
| [[Argiolestidae]]||10||||73||19||||||6||108
|-
| [[Calopterygidae]]||66||68||5||20||37||8||||185
|-
| [[Chlorocyphidae]]||86||||17||42||3||||||144
|-
| [[Devadattidae]]||6||||||||||||||6
|-
| [[Dicteriadidae]]||||2||||||||||||2
|-
| [[Euphaeidae]]||65||||1||||11||||||68
|-
| [[Heteragrionidae]]||||51||||||||||||51
|-
| [[Hypolestidae]]||||2||||||||||||2
|-
| [[Lestoideidae]]||||||9||||||||||9
|-
| [[Megapodagrionidae]]||||29||||||||||||29
|-
| [[Pentaphlebiidae]]||||||||2||||||||2
|-
| [[Philogangidae]]||4||||||||2||||||4
|-
| [[Philogeniidae]]||||39||||||||||||39
|-
| [[Philosinidae]]||12||||||||||||||12
|-
| [[Polythoridae]]||||59||||||||||||59
|-
| [[Pseudolestidae]]||1||||||||||||||1
|-
| [[Rimanellidae]]||||1||||||||||||1
|-
| [[Thaumatoneuridae]]||||5||||||||||||5
|-
| ''[[Incertae sedis]]''||25||11||||19||9||||||61
|-
| [[Coenagrionidae]]||193||554||152||202||96||103||91||1266
|-
| [[Isostictidae]]||||||41||||||||||46
|-
| [[Platycnemididae]]||199||||122||70||22||||||404
|-
|}
Overall, there are about 2942 extant species of damselflies placed in 309 genera.<ref name=diversity>{{cite book |title=Ecology and general biology. Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates |edition=4 |publisher=Academic Press |editor=Thorp, James |editor2=D. Christopher Rogers |isbn=978-0-12-385026-3 |author1=Suhling, F. |author2=Sahlén, G. |author3=Gorb, S. |author4=Kalkman, V.J. |author5=Dijkstra, K-D.B. |author6=van Tol, J. |year=2015 |chapter=Order Odonata |pages= 893–932}}</ref>