Potamarcha congener

One common dragonfly I have not yet discussed is Potamarcha congener. This is an interesting widespread species of which for once the females are very often encountered. This is because they have the habit of perching on wires in the open. Males you hardly ever see on wires. Come to think of it, I do not recall such instance, but that seems odd. Anyway, males you see at ponds, where they perch over the water on twigs, or nearby in fields on bushes. The male is a larger, paler version in some ways of Trithemis festiva, whereas the female has an interesting thoracic pattern of 4 pale lines. It also has the flanges on S8 of Orthetrum females. I have seen P. congener all over northern Vietnam and also in the Mekong Delta, although it is nowhere abundant.

Potamarcha congener, female, for once not perched on a wire (involuntarily)

Potamarcha congener, male

Another male, more pruinose on the abdomen