Holden - James Holden... James is back in Cat Tien - Microgomphus chelifer

I learned the other day that James is back in Cat Tien National Park. James already spent quite a bit of time there looking for dragonflies in the recent past and now is looking to add more to the list. A few days back he contacted me on an unidentified small gomphid. I was happy to help out and could identify it as Microgomphus chelifer thelyphonus. This species is known from Thailand, but new to the Vietnamese list. There is another Microgomphus species in Vietnam, M. jurzitzai, described by Haruki Karube, also from the south of Vietnam, but that species has quite different appendages. The epiproct for instance is much more "hooked". Here below a few shots of this interesting discovery.
James was also able to take a nice photo of Burmagomphus asahinai, which I also reproduce here. Let's hope he will discover more goodies in the next few months!

Female Microgomphus chelifer thelyphonus, courtesy of James Holden, at Cat Tien NP, 11 Dec 2015

The male of the same species, in hand, same date and place, courtesy of James Holden

Appendages of the male in dorsal view. What looks like two pins extending from the epiproct are in fact two branches originating from the cerci.

And a nice photo of a species already recorded from Cat Tien by James: male Burmagomphus asahinai, photo taken in 22 August 2015, courtesy of James Holden