April 2 - Huu Lien and first gomphids

April 2 was a nice spring day to look for the first gomphids of the season in Huu Lien Nature Reserve. As always, the first impression was of clearance progressing, but like last year end of March, Trigomphus kompieri was about at various locations. The first I bumped into was a female, but like last year, I could not catch it and did not get a picture! Trigomphus is genus of early gomphids. Paragomphus may actually be year round, although rare in the winter, I think they may be around. Anyway, there was a male about too, interacting with the Trigomphus. I also saw quite a few Paracercion melanotum and fully mature Gynacantha subinterrupta. Below a few photos.

The first male Trigomphus kompieri of the day, a little difficult to get a clear shot.

And the third. Somewhat easier. The second eluded the camera.

Paragomphus capricornis against a muddy stream background.

Paracercion melanotum male

And Gynacantha subinterrupta showing well

Xuan Son in late October

With apologies for the lack of postings in recent months. I have been busy writing papers.

Saturday October 21 I decided to go to Xuan Son. I have had little time recently, but now is the time the Planaeschna 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. 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. and shortly after a much smaller one: the pale-faced male! I now have the males of all four species of Planaeschna occurring on this particular stream, 3 of them new to science.

Female Cryptophaea vietnamensis. Note the algae on the wings and abdominal tip!

Male Coeliccia chromothorax. Exciting find!

And there it is: Male pale-faced Planaeschna spec. nov. at last!

Appendages very different from P. guentherpetersi

And its pale face

Heliaeschna crassa new from Phu Quoc

On April 14 I was trying my luck towards dusk at a small pool inside swamp forest on Phu Quoc. This was the pool where I had found Rhyothemis aterrima during the daytime and although nearby a dead dog had been dumped in a bag, it was not nearly smelly enough to keep me from staking out for Aeshnids. And as luck might have it, a large Aeshnid did in fact show up and even luckier, when I struck out for it I caught it. It was large and did not look familiar. The appendages looked a bit like what I remembered from Asahina and indeed: when I checked later it turned out to be Heliaeschna crassa. Having said that, this species may be a junior synonym of Heliaeschna idae. However, since convention calls the specimens in countries just west of Vietnam H. crassa, I will stick with that.

This species has long superior appendages that bend inwards towards the apex and are slightly expanded, but the epiproct is short and hooked upwards towards the posterior end. The face is ochre, with an indistinct dark spot on the postfrons that does not form a real T-spot. The eyes are also largely ochre in colour. The thorax is green with reddish lines over the sutures. The wings are pale brownish enfumed, but with dark brown along the subcosta becoming less distinct after the first 6-7 cells or so. Asahina actually describes the thorax as mainly dark reddish brown and the face as reddish brown. Maybe he worked with faded specimens?

The beautiful monster: Heliaeschna crassa. Note the largely ochre eyes.

And the ochre face, for that matter

Positrons with dark vague diamond

Appendages in lateral view, with hooked epiproct.

In dorsal view. Sadly the right appendage was damaged

Sarasaeschna minuta - superb addition to the Vietnamese list

 I was very excited when I bumped into a hovering Sarasaeschna species on April 17 at a stream near Tuyen Lam Lake near Da Lat in South Vietnam. I missed when I tried to catch it, but later caught another specimen and still later a second. Indeed, a small Sarasaeschna species. My fifth species of the genus for Vietnam.

Checking against Asahina's description of Sarasaeschna minuta it matched very well. He described Sarasaeschna minuta in 1986 from a specimen collected in north-east Thailand. As far as I know this is the only record and it is thus also known from only one location. This is therefore a very exciting discovery. The original record was from 1000asl, the current locality about 1350asl.

In fact there are two discrepancies. The first it that the superior appendages have a ventral tooth at the start of the broader section, which is not evident from Asahina's drawings. But otherwise the shape of the appendages is just too good. Also, Asahina described the abdomen as 30mm and HW 28mm. My specimen has HW 28mm, but the abdomen is 36mm. It would need verification against his type specimen, but I think the description may be faulty on this point.

Male Sarasaeschna minuta in hand

Scan of the same male

Appendages in ventral view. Note the long epiproct, which is incised apically in a horse shoe shape

Here in dorsal view you can see that the broader section of the superiors starts with a tooth

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



Emerging Polycanthagyna erythromelas at Ba Vi

Today, March 27, I went to Ba Vi in search for birds, because it was cloudy and cold (14 degrees at Ba Vi). And pretty early in the season anyway. Near the French Camp there is a smallish pond and checking the overhanging vegetation I noticed an Aeshnid hanging from a stick, apparently freshly emerged. The reddish abdomen pointed to Polycanthagyna erythromelas and indeed, that was what it was. The teneral male looks more like the female and not at all like the mature male in coloration. Even the pattern of the adult male on the abdomen is not visible. Also interesting: the postfrons of the mature insect is all black, but here it is clear that the underlying pattern is that of a T-spot. This individual was holding on to its exuviae, which was very clearly that of an Aeshnid. I had already observed a female once on April 4, but this is the first time I have seen it in March.

A cloudy and dark day I had to go to iso 1600, so it is rather grainy.

With flash that problem was solved, but I only had my macro lens with me and internal camera flash, so the result leaves a lot to be desired. Note the black T-spot on the postfrons.

Exciting new Gynacantha species for Vietnam (and the world): Gynacantha cattienensis*

*Entry adjusted after publication of this species in Zootaxa in May 2017 as Gynacantha cattienensis.

Middle December last year James Holden contacted me to report a spectacular Gynacantha species from Cat Tien National Park. Apparently it was quite common at a certain stream, where it could be observed in good numbers during the day time, flying across the stream. Photos showed a very interesting species indeed. The massive epiproct are only matched in southeast Asia by those of G. khasiaca, a rare Indian species that has almost never been observed, although there is a recent record from Bangladesh. The appendages depicted in Fraser (1936) are very similar, although there are in fact, if one looks closely, also differences. This may be due to the drawing, but maybe the differences are real. What is more, G. khasiaca has a grass-green thorax with spectacular dark stripes over the sutures, quite different from most species. The specimens from Cat Tien are a more dull olive green and lack these bold stripes. There are other differences, but in fact there are more similarities, whether in relation to the amber markings at the wing bases or the exact match in size. It will go to far to discuss all here, but suffices it to say that the species from Cat Tien is in the very least a different subspecies and possibly, and that would be truly amazing, a new species of Gynacantha, closely related to, but sufficiently different from, G. khasiaca. Currently we are trying to verify the exact details of the specimens used by Fraser and deposited in the British Museum. Below photos taken in December, of relatively fresh specimens, by James, and of last weekend, of old specimens, by myself. More details will follow when the time is right!

Scan of old male, very dark. Note dark amber wing bases and long epiproct.

Old male in lateral view, showing olive-green thorax and blueish pattern on S2. Eyes blue, not green as in Fraser's description

A fresher male in December, courtesy of James Holden. Note again the dark wing bases, the long appendages and epiproct and yellow frons with blackish T-spot.

Gynacantha bayadera - yet another Gynacantha (species 9)

I had long been looking out for Gynacantha bayadera in Vietnam. According to the IUCN website it is a widespread species, occurring from India to the south of China. Is is mentioned as native to Vietnam. However, until now I had not been able to find it. After James found Gynacantha khasiaca, albeit probably at least a new subspecies, at Cat Tien, the tally for Gynacantha species recently in Vietnam was already at 8. This includes the record by Ellenrieder et al. of Gynacantha hyalina from Cuc Phuong. On January 1 I finally caught up with a female Gynacantha bayadera, easily identified by the apple green thorax and face and plain frons (no T-mark) near Duong Dong lake on Phu Quoc. The next evening I also caught a male along a forest road at the north side of the island (where it flew with G. basiguttata and G. subinterrupta). Clearly it is not a rare species on the island. The male too is try green, with unmarked frons.

Male Gynacantha bayadera, a pretty, very green, small species

The female, likewise very green

The appendages of the male

And the (almost) unmarked green frons

Sarasaeschna gaofengensis - The Tu Le species novum has a name

I received the article describing Sarasaeschna gaofengensis Yeh & Kiyoshi, 2015  last week from Wen-Chi. The description is based on a male caught in mid June at Gaufeng, Lufeng county, in Yunnan Province (China). The specimen was collected at a little over 2000m altitude. When I notified Wen-Chi this year in May that I had caught an unknown Sarasaeschna in Yen Bai Province, he alerted me to the fact that the very same species was being described and would be published soon, from Yunnan. Sarasaeschna species have a short flight period and are generally difficult to find, so discovering them almost simultaneously, give or take a year, in China and Vietnam, is quite a coincidence. In Vietnam the species was found at approximately 1000m asl, so considerably lower than in Yunnan. Below I reproduce the picture of a male in lateral view and come-ups of the appendages.

It has a name! Male Sarasaeschna gaofengensis from Tu Le, Yen Bai Province, 15 May 2015.

Appendages in dorsal view

And the same in ventral view

The male of Gynacantha basiguttata and a male G. japonica thrown in

November 21 I went to Huu Lien to look for the enigma Planaeschna cf. guentherpetersi again, but did not see it. I did catch an Aeshnid that passed overhead in the forest and was very happy to find it was a splendid male Gynacantha basiguttata. I had caught the female a few weeks back too. Apparently it is not that rare inside the forest. The other cool thing I saw was a communal roost of Cratilla lineata. I had seen that in Potamarcha congener, but this was new knowledge to me. At least 15 bundled together on a hanging twig.

On November 22 I went to Xuan Son and looked for the small pale-faced Planaeschna there. I did see one female, but failed to catch it. It was mostly an uneventful day, but I saw a few Gynacantha japonica and was able to take some pictures. Another unexpected species was Trithemis pallidinervis at the river crossing, which I had not seen this far north. And a fine male Ceriagrion chaoi was another nice one. Not at all that common, although regular at Xuan Son.

Very fine male Gynacantha basiguttata, note the dark wingbases.

Scan of the same male. Note the long and slender epiproct and the wingbases.

Pretty male Ceriagrion chaoi

Gynacantha japonica, note the pale epiproct.

And a surprise female Trithemis pallidinervis

Gynacantha basiguttata in Huu Lien

Today I visited Huu Lien to try once again for the Planaeschna cf. guentherpetersi, but I failed to see it (although I saw two possibles hunting at tree top level in the late afternoon). But when I made my way back through the forest at dusk I saw quite a few Gynacantha. Most were immature G. subinterrupta, but one larger species whizzed by and was netted with a little luck. To my large surprise it had extensive dark basal patches to the wings: Gynacantha basiguttata. I had seen this species in the south, in Cat Tien National Park, but did not expect it at all this far north. After all, Huu Lien is almost in China. This is a large species. The female I caught was 76mm without the (broken) appendages.

Female Gynacantha basiguttata, a large species, easily recognizable by the dark wingbases.

So does Planaeschna guentherpetersi occur in Huu Lien or not?

On December 1, 2014, I caught a female Planaeschna in Huu Lien that seemed to be a P. guentherpetersi, complete with the typical dorsal and lateral pattern on S2. Please see the concerned post. The facial pattern however was much more vivid than anything I have ever seen in Xuan Son, where the species is quite common. So, when I discussed with Haruki Karube a little while back we decided that it was not likely these two were in fact the same species. But I had no material from Huu Lien for comparison (I may have released the specimen at the time, or it was eaten by vermin, anyway, I do not have it), so it was/is undetermined. I had a single specimen last year that flew off. Finally yesterday I noticed an Aeshnid in the dark of the forest flying about. It hung from a twig, but I could not get to it, so decided to make some pictures with flash. These made it clear is was a male, and that it was a Planaeschna for sure. It also has the same dorsal pattern as the female on S2. Interestingly, the pattern on the remainder of the abdomen and on the lateral side of S2 is the same as in P. guentherpetersi. The shape of the appendages, insofar as can be judged from the pictures is not at variance with that of P. guentherpetersi either. Although the fact remains that the female has quite a more pronounced facial pattern, it seems for the time better to assume this is a local variant than enough grounds to claim this is a different species. But of course, I will try to catch it at the next occasion. It would be great to sample the populations for DNA.

The enlightened photo of the Huu Lien specimen, showing the typical dorsal pattern of S2 and remainder of the abdominal pattern. Compare with the below scan of the Xuan Son male.

The Xuan Son male. Planaeschna species have a lot of variation in the pattern of S2 or the abdomen, so for these specimens to very similar is likely too much of a coincidence.

The Huu Lien male at a different angle, showing the intense green and black thorax pattern and the lateral pattern of S2, with the yellow auricle and two spots on the distal edge.  This is very much the same pattern as can be seen in the scan below.

See the pattern of S2 on this male from Xuan Son. No other species in Vietnam, out of the other 9 or so I have found, has a similar pattern, but the specimen from Huu Lien has it. See also the heel on the ventral side of the superior appendages, visible in both the scan and the photo. For what it is worth, of course.

Anax aurantiacus - the fourth Anax

*The text of this entry was adjusted on December 6, 2022, upon publication of the paper by Makbun et al. describing Anax aurantiacus.

Driving from Da Nang to P'rao, just in Quang Nam Province, I finally caught up with what used to be considered a form of what is in Europe sort of a legendary species, Anax immaculifrons. Anax aurantiacus is a beautiful Anax species. Interestingly, I have not seen it in northern Vietnam, nor am I aware of any records there, but it apparently occurs both on Hainan and in Guangdong in China. In Vietnam it is known from the area around Da Nang, so in that respect it was not strange that I saw several on September 25, 2015. All where observed along clear mountain streams, where there where shallow pools. I did not see any females.

This was the first specimen I saw. It would perch for prolonged periods before going back to patrol flights.

The same male, but posed after I had captured it to take shots of the appendages

And this is what the cerci and epiproct look like in dorsal view

Another male, this one not posed, but posing of its own free will

The real female Planaeschna tomokunii

On September 24 I went to Tam Dao to look for Planaeschna tamdaoensis and P. tomokunii. The first I wanted to catch to see if it is truly different from P. gressitti, and the other to verify what I had concluded was P. tomokunii from Pia Oac and Yen Bai. The day started dismally. It was misty and the road to Tam Dao 2 was blocked. So I went to the stairway to the antenna above Tam Dao. This is the location where Cuong had caught the species before and I was hoping that I might see it at a small stream in the forest there. Previously I had not been lucky, but this time, after some staking out, I noticed a female searching for a place to oviposit. I could not reach her, but several other specimens made an appearance and eventually I could net one. This is a remarkably robust species at 71mm body length. And even if I could not find a male, this female as enough to show that the drawings and description of Cuong are very accurate. It also made clear that this species is certainly not identical to what occurs at Pia Oac and at Yen Bai. It is of course still possible that the males are variants of the same species, but I for sure had no similar females yet. Whatever the females from Yen Bai and Pia Oac (at least two different species) are, they are not P. tomokunii. I hope that soon I will have time to try for the male again.

Planaeschna tomokunii, remarkably robust and with relatively dark abdomen.

Its face is not as bland pale brown as in most. The labrum is distinctly pale and there are clear  brown flecks on the postclypeus.

The pattern on S2 is very interesting. The dorsal line is indeed interrupted, and the distal mark is quite narrow

Anax parthenope julius - confirmed

Karube recorded Anax parthenope julius from Tam Dao in September 1990. Sebastien Delonglee recorded quite a few in September from Cat Ba Island. And I had seen some specimens in the field both in spring and autumn that seemed good candidates. But I had never been able to verify the species for sure. Until yesterday, when I decided to drive to Xuan Son and checked a large lotus pond in the hills along the QL32. There were several Anax cruising around and they looked smallish and had brownish abdomens. They looked like good candidates for Anax parthenope julius and when I finally caught one: yes, it was. Almost continuous pale line over the abdomen, facial pattern, pattern on the frons, very short epiproct. Coolio!
Have not yet seen A. aurantiacus, which is known from Central Vietnam, nor A. panybeus, which might occur, given its distribution both to the north and to the southwest of Vietnam. But it has not been recorded yet, although it is not that difficult to recognize when seen well. Yet another Anax is A. nigrofasciatus, a common mountain species.

Male A. parthenope julius, with extensive pale markings on brownish abdomen, reddish femora. A nice dragonfly.

The frons in dorsal view, with black cross bar bordered by pale blue

Seen from the front the frons has a clear horizontal black field. The brown spot on the postclypeus is an aberration.

The appendages in dorsal view. Note the very short and rounded epiproct.