A dozen days in national and private parks, at the end of March and beginning of April 2013, allowed me to encounter about 41 species of dragonflies in Costa Rica, most of them already seen in Panama, the neighbouring state just to the south. The yield would certainly have been much larger if this period had not coincided with the dry season; indeed, many ponds, forest streams, ditches, and even lagoons were dry...
List of the Dragonflies of Costa Rica (1999).
Since the publication of this page in 2013, identification has been made considerably easier by the publication of the excellent Dragonflies and Damselflies of Costa Rica in 2021 by Dennis Paulson and William Haber, published by Cornell University Press. This book provides details not only on identification and similar species, but also on habitat and behaviour.
To my knowledge, there is no equivalent book (in English, at least) on Panama or Nicaragua, the two neighbouring states. One has to go as far as Colombia to find several guides that can also be helpful.
Pending the release of the one in French Guiana (which, in 2026, is well underway), which will cover species widespread across the entire region.
Dragonflies of Costa Rica
| Coenagrionidae | Libellulidae | ||
| Argia anceps | ► | Anatya guttata | ► |
| Argia chelata | ► | Cannaphila insularis | ► |
| Argia elongata | ► | Dythemis nigra | ► |
| Argia gaumeri | ► | Dythemis sterilis | ► |
| Argia indicatrix | ► | Erythemis haematogastra | ► |
| Argia oculata | ► | Erythemis peruviana | ► |
| Argia "oculata purple" | ► | Erythemis vesiculosa | ► |
| Argia oenea | ► | Genre Erythrodiplax | → |
| Argia popoluca | ► | Erythrodiplax fervida | ► |
| Argia pulla | ► | Erythrodiplax fusca | ► |
| Argia tezpi | ► | Genre Micrathyria | → |
| Argia translata | ► | Micrathyria aequalis | ► |
| Enallagma novaehispaniae | ► | Micrathyria ocellata | ► |
| Ischnura ramburii | ► | Orthemis discolor | ► |
| Neoerythromma cultellatum | ► | Orthemis ferruginea | ► |
| Megapodagrionidae | Orthemis levis | ► | |
| Philogenia sp. | ► | Pantala flavescens | ► |
| Protoneuridae | Perithemis domitia | ► | |
| Protoneura amatoria | ► | Perithemis electra | ► |
| Calopterygidae | Rhodopygia hinei | ► | |
| Hetaerina capitalis | ► | Uracis fastigiata | ► |
| Hetaerina cruentata | ► | Uracis imbuta | ► |
| Hetaerina fuscoguttata | ► | Uracis turrialba | ► |
| Hetaerina occisa | ► |