Dragonflies are important bioindicators of aquatic ecosystem health. We discuss the distribution and richness of the 22 dragon- and damselfly species known from the Socotra Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site (Yemen) in the western Indian Ocean. We compiled 841 records from literature, field data and museum collections, covering a surveying period of 123 years (1896–2019). Distribution of the only endemic, the Socotra BluetAzuragrion granti(McLachlan, 1903), an indicator of pristine lotic waters, is updated. Relatively higher dragonfly species richness occurs in eastern Socotra where suitable aquatic habitats are present all year. We observed a significant drop of the number of taxa over several decades in areas in the Hadiboh Plain where human development impacts are strongest. We discuss the indigenous people’s perception of dragonflies to assess the potential of these invertebrates as local flagships for aquatic biodiversity conservation. Our knowledge of the Socotran Odonata remains incomplete, yet they are now among the best studied animal groups in the archipelago. A new record of an OrientalAnaxindicates that the island’s dragonfly fauna may yet harbour surprises. Our compilation of odonate records is the first for Socotra and serves as a baseline for future monitoring of the archipelago’s vital aquatic habitats. We converted all records into a geodatabase which we uploaded to an online, freely available web mapping server and mobile application to facilitate research and conservation of the Socotran dragonflies (www.dragonfliesofsocotra.com).Graphic

Borullus, the most centrally situated of the Nile Delta lakes, probably evolved around the eighth century AD from a preexisting salt marsh by fluviatile deposition of sand dunes north of the lake and subsidence of the preexisting tidal swamp behind this barrier. It was flooded yearly (September–December) by the Sebennytic branch of the Nile, and evacuated water through an exit, Bughaz. At low river levels, this process reversed and Bughaz functioned as a marine inlet. Because of this switch, its fauna and flora contained a mix of marine, freshwater, and brackish-water species. Around the mid-nineteenth century, damming of the Nile began, culminating with the high Aswan Dam (1964) that brought the yearly flood fully under control. As a result, a steady flow of Nile water, used for irrigated delta agriculture, began to drain to the lake and became a constant evacuator to the Mediterranean. It turned almost fresh, and its fishery, formerly marine and mullet-based, became cichlid–catfish based. However, rice and other new delta crops caused huge amounts of nutrients to wash down the drains, and currently the lake is eutrophied and only resists hypertrophication because of the low residence time of its water. Finally, the damming of the Nile terminated the influx to the delta of a yearly sediment layer, but subsidence and coastal erosion continue and are now consuming the sand bar that separates the lake from the sea.