Pia Oac, another location for Planaeschna gressitti

* Post adjusted November 15, 2025. The genus Planaeschna has been synonymized with Aeschnophlebia. Also, Kompier et al. (2021) rectified earlier mistakes. Adjustments are made in below text between square brackets [].

Saturday October 4, checking the trails near the pass at the TL212 in Pia Oac we noticed several Aeshnids scurrying over the trail inside the forest. When one took the same route several times, I swept it out of the air and into the net. A beautiful male Aeshnid! Checking wing venation and facial pattern, it seemed very close to Planaeschna gressitti, which this spring and summer we saw at Mau Son in Lang Son Province, after its initial discovery by Sebastien. Now also at Pia Oac, again at about 1000m asl in forested mountains. Possibly this is a much more common species in the northern mountainous area bordering China. [This is in fact A. tamdaoensis. A gressitti is very likely a junior synonym of this species, which in turn is likely a junior synonym of A. suichangensis (see Kompier et al.)]

Beautiful male Planaeschna gressitti with its splendid yellow and black patterning

And equally splendid yellow and black facial markings