Although in the past authors like Selys de Longchamps, Schneider and Morton already showed an interest in the region and between 1910 and 1935 also Bartenef published a lot on the Caucasus and also Transcaucasia in 1948 N.N. Akramowski (also transliteraded as Akramovskii, Akramovski, Akramovskij, Akramovsky, Akramowskii) was the first to publish a extensive account of Odonata in the Sovjet republic of Armemia. He gave 47 species, adding some as to be found probably in the future. In 1964 Akramowski published a supplement, treating a number of species which had been found recently in eastern transcaucasia, including Azerbaijan. 

In fact, by the 1940's the odonatafauna of Armenia was relatively well known in comparison with neighbouring courtries.

Since then few data (as far as we know) have been collected in the country which became independent in 1990. In 1998 and 2001 the first author visited Armenia on a mainly touristic trip, nevertheless observing a number of dragonflies and generating some interest in this insect order with the second author (an expert ornithologist).

Vasil then started to put the ancient and published records on maps. This was not an easy task as in Armenia over a century a lot of localities changed names, some even two of three times. Recently a decent map of the country has been published in a project called the "Birds of Armenia" (BOA); this map includes an index and is of great use. Then the idea grew to publish all this on the internet to invoke some extra interest in the region.

We are very much aware of the fact that we were dealing with a very small dataset (at that time somewhat more than 600 records) but nevertheless we thought it interesting to publish already the available data in this form. Existing data may not be easily accessible to everyone (due to language and toponimy-problems), chances are small that in a near future a mass of odonatologists will study the country and we hope this publication may generate some reaction from people already having interesting data or being able to supply us with appropriate literature. Any remark will be warmly welcomed.

In 2002, 2003 (an exclusively dragonfly trip by Marc Tailly) and 2004 more observations were made, also by Vasil Ananian on his field trips. In 2004 Nicolas Vanermen, Stijn Hantson and Brecht Verhelst added some data from their journey. The total of records is now 973, with only 6  not unequivocably tracable to coordinates or modern toponimes.

We are sure that the status of a number of taxa will change in the future (e.g. Calopteryx splendens complex), but we have chosen a practical approach. 

Within the boundaries of todays Armenia 56 dragonfly species have been found, with some subspecific taxa.

In the annotated list you’ll find:

1. distribution map – first and last observation date (on basis of available and tracable records) in the Republic of Armenia; the date format used is day-month-(year)). Red spots indicate records from before 1990 (in fact before 1965) and blue spots observations after 1990 (in fact from 1998 onwards). In a few species, where very relevant, a spot has been added for the Turkish site of Ani, which lies on the border river.
2. A little description of status and distribution and phenology, based articles by Akramowski (1948 and 1964); but note that it is not always clear if this information comes from Armenian observations or from literature about neighbouring countries.
3. Eventually synonyms and other notes.