Year 5: 2004

No field work was undertaken. Northern specimens in the RBCM were completely curated, databases were brought up to date and new distribution maps were printed. Field surveys were initiated in the Yukon by Syd Cannings and Cameron Eckert of NatureServe Yukon. Most of the specimens were deposited in the RBCM and databased and curated by Moretta Frederick. They represent an important complement to the RBCM's holdings of northern BC material.

A paper entitled "Determining the status of British Columbia's dragonflies" was prepared by Leah Ramsay and Rob Cannings for the Species at Risk Conference held in Victoria in early March 2004. The paper was delivered by Ramsay.

Publications: Rob Cannings published an article, "Resources for the study of the Odonata in Canada" in the Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Cannings 2004). The article outlines the major publications, web sites, museum collections and databases that are useful in studying dragonflies. The closely related damselflies Lestes disjunctus and L. forcipatus are frequently collected in the northern surveys; new characters for separating these similar species were reported in Simaika and Cannings (2004).