In the last decades only a little knowledge has been gained regarding the Odonata fauna of Afghanistan, principally due to ongoing conflict within the country. Nevertheless, Ukrainian scientists have visited there in recent years, mainly to study Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. During one expedition in the Paghman-Dara mountains at an altitude of 2 500 m a.s.l. ca 20 km west of Kabul a female of Cordulegaster coronata (Morton, 1916) was collected. No further specimens of this species were seen.

We present evidence supporting the widely accepted interpretation that the genus name Lestes Leach, 1815, is based on the Greek masculine word λῃστής [lēstēs] meaning ‘robber or pirate’. Comparison of Leach’s brief definition of Lestes with that of the genus Agrion Fabricius, 1775, from which the new genus was split, suggests that W.E. Leach selected the piratical name because the males of species in this genus are armed with pincer-shaped appendages; hence the name is an allusion to the edged weapons carried by pirates. The common view that the name was suggested by the voracious predatory behaviour of lestids, as well as the interpretation that the genus name is based on the French word leste [= nimble] are both rejected.

During a short trip to south-western Saudi Arabia focusing on the Asir Mountains in November 2022, 27 species of Odonata were found. The occurrence of species known from Saudi Arabia, albeit from data older than 50 years (Diplacodes lefebvrii and Crocothemis sanguinolenta), was confirmed. New localities of some previously only scarcely reported species were discovered, viz. Pseudagrion sublacteum, Anax speratus, Paragomphus sinaiticus, Brachythemis impartita, Nesciothemis farinosa, Trithemis dejouxi and presumed Pseudagrion arabicum, on which DNA analysis was performed.