Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What did the 2021 IUCN assessment report about extinction risks for dragonflies and damselflies?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Odonata
Male jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx splendens).
In 2021, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published its first global assessment of dragonflies and damselflies as an update to the Red List of Threatened Species. The report concluded that 16 percent of these species are currently at risk of extinction. This decline is primarily driven by widespread habitat loss occurring in wetlands and along river systems worldwide.1