Planaeschna gressitti

* Blog entry adjusted November 15, 2025. Planaeschna has been synonymized with Aeschnophlebia. Also, Kompier et al. (2021) rectified many earlier mistakes and provided details of Vietnamese Planaeschna (= Aeschnophlebia) species. Below text is adjusted between square brackets [].

After Sebastien drove all the way to Mau Son last week (see his blog), today (June 7) was our turn. A bad day for it really, we had only a few minutes of sun, but nevertheless it was quite successful. I was lucky enough to see quite a few Aeshnids, but after catching a female and seeing a few others, it was only late in the afternoon that I finally caught up with a male. Important, as this might help to sort the riddle. Sebastien only caught a female. In fact, under the microscope, things were still rather complicated, until I looked at the penile organ. It was then very clear. Planaeschna gressiti! [In fact A. tamdaoensis, of which A. gressitti is likely a junior synonym. A. tamdaoensis in turn is likely a junior synonym of A. suichangensis.] See Sebastien's blog for all the theory and background. Here the photos to prove its identity!

A beautiful Planaeschnid, P. gressitti, male

And its female

Scan of dorsal view of male (left) and female (right)

The face of the female

And really rather similar, of the male

The organs of S2, with the distinctive apical segment of the penis

Apical segment in close-up, so indeed, P. gressitti

Appendages of male in dorsal view, not easy to separate from P. tamdaoensis

The same in lateral view. On the basis of this I would have hesitated to identify it