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Nannothemis bella Uhler, 1857 (Odonata: Libellulidae), the smallest dragonflyin North America, inhabit bogs and sedge fens across their distribution, spanning fromQuebec (Canada) south to Florida and west to Minnesota and Louisiana (USA). While commonin the northern part of their range, N. bella is of conservation concern in the southernpopulations where they are disjunct and rare. Little work has been done on the ecologyand geographic conservation of this species. To fill this knowledge gap, we constructedspecies distribution models (SDMs) to analyze the spatial distribution and climatic nicheof N. bella, define factors in habitat suitability and estimate potential niche shifts underclimate change and inform conservation efforts. Our present-day SDMs indicate the dominantenvironmental elements determining habitat suitability include the proportion of siltin soil, temperature seasonality, percentage of clay and coarse components in soil, and soilclass. Our paleodistribution models show a southern distribution within the last glacialmaximum, with a shift northward 8,326 to 4,200 years ago. Our projected SDMs for 2050under RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 predict a significant decrease in habitat suitability throughoutthe entire range of N. bella. As such, N. bella is a species of conservation concern andconservation measures are imperative for its continued existence as a much-needed bioindicatorfor these freshwater ecosystems. Additionally, this ecological knowledge providesthe foundation for identifying population sites from which to collect N. bella for futurepopulation genetic studies.