Yes, we are in business! The first real sunny day of the spring in North Vietnam and I found myself in Xuan Son, for birds, but it was rather quiet, but I had good views of a singing Spotted Wren Babbler. But the sun also brought out quite a few dragons. Interestingly, several species were already in copula or ovipositing, so had been around for some time: Orthetrum pruinosum, Copera marginipes, Trithemis festiva, Pantala flavescens, not the rarest of species, but still.
The best species of the day was stunning Mnais mneme. I saw three males, all orange-winged. One I caught and it was very large, abdomen 49 mm, larger than either M. mneme or M. andersoni as described in Asahina's 1975 papers. The appendages pointed to M. andersoni, but the distal segment of the penile organ, as he calls it, is only very shallowly v-shaped, much like his Laos type. Based on this, and helped by the size, I identified it as M. mneme.
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| Mnais mneme, male orange-winged form |
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| Appendages in ventral view. Tip of inferiors with hook and inferiors well short of superior appendages. |
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| But see the almost t-shape of the distal segment |
Another surprise was Ceriagrion azureum, two males in a rice field of all places. I had only seen this beautiful species in Ba Be National Park before. As they were a bit far away and I did not bring the long lens, a record shot only.
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| Ceriagrion azureum, beautiful species, bad photo |
Heliocypha perforata was already common, with many males displaying. Here an immature male and a female.
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| Heliocypha perforata, female |
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| And H. perforata, immature male, just starting to turn blue on the abdomen |
Yet another species already common was Euphaea masoni. Many males were flitting about. Here an almost mature male and a female.
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| Is she crying, or just shy? Euphaea masoni, female |
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| E. masoni, immature male |
Vestalis gracilis was very common in some places, whereas in autumn it is not so easy to find in Xuan Son. I was a bit surprised how common it was already.
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| Two males Vestalis gracilis, side by side |
And the last species I have photos of, Cratilla lineata. This species was also already ovipositing. Here a male.
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| Cratilla lineata, male |
As it is interesting to know what the temporal distribution is of species, here the other species seen today:
Neurobasis chinensis, Aristocypha fenestrella, Agriocnemis femina, Paracercion calamorum, Coeliccia scutellum, Copera marginipes, C. ciliata, Prodasineura autumnalis, Pantala flavescens, Trithemis festiva, Orthetrum pruinosum, O. glaucum, O. triangulare, Brachythemis contaminata.
A total of 20 species, yes, we are in business!
