In ancient times, Japan was called "Akitsu shima" which means an odonates' island, and also called "Toyo ashihara mizuho no kuni", a wet island having a rich crop. Because we Japanese have lived on rice for more than 2500 years with a huge number of odonates which emerge from paddy fields, they are the most familiar insects for us. I will introduce Japanese odonates with many photographs and topics.

I will introduce a basic biology of Odonata, i.e. Odonatology, such as classification, larval life, emergence, adult life, and so on.

There are 172 kinds (including species and subspecies) of adult Japanese Odonata specimens with fine pictures. Now under construction, almost in Japanese with spcific name on the figures.

Fine pictures of exuviae and larvae of Japanese Odonata. They will be very useful for you to identify exuviae and larvae in Japan. Now under construction, only Aeshnidae and Corduliidae are published, in Japanese with English terms on the figures.

Featuring some topics on Odonata.

Links to excellent web sites of Odonata in Japan......

Japanese Maps
Japan has a very long and slender country extending northerly and southerly, which is situated between ca. 24^oN and ca. 46^oN. Biogeographically, the south of Watase's Line belongs to Oriental subregion and the north of it belongs to Palaearctic subregion.