Dragonflies and damselflies of the St Katherine Protectorate

Abstract

The indigenous Bedouin tribes of South Sinai (Egypt) irrigate small gardens for agricultural purposes and this has been shown to boost the biodiversity of plants, birds and insects, including dragonflies (Odonata). The gardens offer water-related resources normally in short supply in arid regions. There is very little information available on the dragonflies and damselflies of the Sinai. We assess the importance of Bedouin gardens to Odonata by recording them in the gardens and in unmanaged habitat in the St Katherine Protectorate. The gardens are widely utilised by Odonata: ten species were recorded in total, all observed in the gardens at least once.