Anax indicus - new for Vietnam with thanks to Sebastien

Yesterday Sebastien Delonglee sent me a photo of an Anax he photographed smack in Hanoi at a pond. Immediately obvious from the colour and configuration of the spotting on the abdomen was that this was Anax indicus. And because this species had not previously been recorded in Vietnam this was quite exciting indeed! Apparently there is a record from Hong Kong, and of course Anax species are notoriously strong flyers with great dispersal ability, but even so.

Today Sebastien went back to the same pond in order to get better photos. I myself had to go on a business trip and needed to postpone looking for it myself, sadly. But on my way to the airport I had to pass by my house to pick up my suitcase. With a few minutes to spare I took a peak at the swamp behind our appartment building and jokingly said to Kameliya that I would find one there. To my immense surprise a slow flying Anax was patrolling the small area of open water close to the temple on the other side. Obvious was immediately the largely yellow abdomen: Anax indicus! Although I scurried downstairs with my camere and rode my bike (with a flat tyre) to the otherside, I could there only see it take off. Then I had to dash for the airport. So, no better pictures than those of Sebastien (that would have been difficult anyway), but a very cool record. This sort of suggests there may be an invasion going on, possibly triggered by the drought in the Mekong basin.

Here is the very cool photo by Sebastien of the specimen seen yesterday.

Absolutely brilliant photo by Sebastien of Anax indicus