During my little excursion to Cat Tien, I was able to finally find Orolestes octomaculatus. That was very welcome. James had found one in the lodge, but I had not been able to replicate that record and felt hopelessly left out. This time round I was more lucky. First we found a freshly emerged female in the flooded excavations on the way to the fishponds. Then I found a female smack in the middle of the forest, and finally several males at ponds close to the bird lake trail. It is an easy species to recognize. The female in hand by the 5-6 large teeth on the ovipositor and the male by the 8 spots on the wing.
The other Lestidae I ran into, was a female Lestes elatus, which I found at the fishponds. Luckily an easy species to recognize on account of its patterning. Also apparently common in all sorts of disturbed habitats. I found only one, but at least we know it is there. Hopefully also males next time.
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| Lestes elatus, a female photographed from some distance |
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| The same female in hand. I am sorry about the prominent finger, but if you check the print, you can see it is me. The pattern on S8-9 is very typical. |
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| Orolestes octomaculatus, not a good photo and with flash, but you can see the typical double-dot pattern on all wings. |
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| Another male, again a little hasty when taking the picture |
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| Female of Orolestes octomaculatus, note the rather different, plain, coloration of S8-9 when compared to female O. selysi (see that post) |
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| Note the large teeth on the ovipositor (same female as in previous picture) |
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