Eventful day at Tay Thien, a few more goodies

This weekend (June 15-16) proved pretty productive at Tay Thien. Apart from the species already described, I encountered about 50 more. Here are a few other highlights

The first was this beautify male Polycanthagyna erythromelas. I saw several females flying about, but this male resting for a short while in a nearby bush was a treat.

And in the lower river stretches were several Lamelligomphus formosanus active. Once you know the species, it is not so confusing anymore.

Another species present in good numbers, towards the evening in the open and during the day in dark clearings, was Macromidia rapida. I was lucky with a male that perched nearby.

The female of Sinorogomphus sachiyoae. Very much like the male in appearance. After these shots she happily continued ovipositing.

Another cool female, Heliogomphus scorpio. The male was active nearby as she was ovipositing near the nunnery. Like the male, very pale (white) metepimeron, unlike Heliogomphus sp., which occurred at the same stretch, but is much yellower.

Here a close-up of her pretty face. Note the horn on the occipital ridge.

There was something else I did not expect, Drepanosticta hongkongensis. I noticed a male at 350m asl beyond the nunnery. Under the microscope it is identical to the specimens from Ba Vi. I thought the species there was known only from that location in Vietnam, but when this is D. hongkongensis, well, in that case it is not surprising it occurs elsewhere. Although the caudal appendages are identical, the anterior lobe of the prothorax is all black, as it should be for D. hongkongensis, unlike the specimens from Ba Vi.

The penile organ, identical

As are the caudal appendages