Gynacantha basiguttata - new for Vietnam

In July James Holden, doing research in Cat Tien National Park, contacted me with photos of what appeared to be, based on the distinctive appendages, a male Gynacantha basiguttata. That would be a new record for Vietnam, although the IUCN redlist mentions it as a possible for Vietnam. It otherwise occurs from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to Thailand.

Not surprisingly, I was hoping to see the species when I visited Cat Tien in the first week of August. James had after the first record seen several around the lodge. I did catch several Gynacantha there at dusk, but these turned out to be Gynacantha subinterrupta, a species I saw regularly also elsewhere in the park. There were some high-flying Gynacantha both at dusk and at sunrise, that may have been something else, until I finally in the early morning caught a female Gynacantha with clearly marked wings bases and minus the typical abdominal markings of G. subinterrupta. At last, Gynacantha basiguttata, my fourth Gynacantha species in Vietnam.

Not very brightly colored at all, and with unmarked thorax, but note the typical dark "flames" at the wing bases! Female Gynacantha basiguttata.