There are 26 families of dragonflies and damselflies found worldwide, consisting of 5000 species. In Australia 17 of these families are represented with 302 species present. The Odonata are divided into 3 suborders. Only 2 of these suborders have representative species found in Australia and these separate the robust dragonflies, suborder Anisoptera from the more delicate damselflies of the suborder Zygoptera. Follow the links below to find out more about the families of dragonflies and damselflies. Those in bold represent the dragonfly and damselfly families present in Australia.

For dragonfly and damselfly species visit the Australian Insect Common Names - Odonata section found here.