*This posting was updated on November 15, 2025. Please refer to Kompier et al. (2021) for more information: The genus Planaeschna McLachlan, 1895 and its subgroupings in Vietnam, with descriptions of three new species (Odonata: Aeshnidae). Also, the genus Planaeschna has been synonymized with Aeschnophlebia. I have added the current names between square marks [] below for clarity.
Saturday October 21 I decided to go to Xuan Son. I have had little time recently, but now is the time the Planaeschna [Aeschnophlebia] fly there. In fact this was the only weekend available to go, so although the weather was not very promising, I went anyway. For three years I have been catching a small pale-faced Planaescha female, but never a male. I was getting a little desperate, as this was the last chance I had.
The weather was a little better than expected and quite soon I caught another female. Then several hours nothing, but fly by's of the large Planaeschna spec. nov. female and of female P. guentherpetersi [Aeschnophlebia ishigakiana guentherpetersi]. I did in the meantime tun into something unexpected: a male Coeliccia chromothorax. The 8th species of this genus along this 1.5 km stream. No idea how it got there. It is a striking species and I had never seen it on a large number of previous visits. Strange.
I also found a female Cryptophaea vietnamensis. In itself that is not strange, but it was covered in algae. I remember a discussion on this on the Facebook page on neotropical dragonflies. I do not remember ever having seen it in Vietnam, but apparently it does happen here too.
And then I caught a male "large" Planaeschna spec. nov. [described now as Aeschnophlebia tsuchi] and shortly after a much smaller one: the pale-faced male [In fact not the male of the pale-faced females, but Aeschnophlebia cucphuongensis]! I now have the males of all four species of Planaeschna occurring on this particular stream, 3 of them new to science.
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| Female Cryptophaea vietnamensis. Note the algae on the wings and abdominal tip! |
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| Male Coeliccia chromothorax. Exciting find! |
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| And there it is: Male pale-faced Planaeschna spec. nov. at last! [Aeschnophlebia cucphuongensis] |
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| Appendages very different from P. [ishigakiana] guentherpetersi |
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| And its pale face |
