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



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

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.

It's a male's world (but it would be nothing without females)

Hanging around Pia Oac on April 4 and 5 I bumped into several interesting females that I would like to share here. Plus one interesting copula.

This here is the female of Mnais andersoni, by virtue of its association with a bundle of males

This is a copula of Ischnura carpentieri. The andromorph female it not common at all

Female Trithemis festiva, much more difficult to find than the male

Ovipositing female Anax nigrofasciatus

A different female A. nigrofasciatus, caught hunting over the road on the mountain

Female of Orthetrum triangulare with less clearly marked thorax compared to O. glaucum and dark tip to abdomen

Sapa, 14-16 April

To continue the saga of Sapa, we arrived late on Sunday 13th after a grueling drive, persuaded by my Papago! to drive a different route, not as I planned along QL 32, but first along QL 70, where we eventually ran into a traffic jam and had to U-turn, drive back for an hour and then followed TL 151, equally disastrous, as it was no more than a off road dirt track ruined by working traffic for the highway being built. But we made it. In Sapa we noticed great dragonfly spots, but did not specifically explore them, as this was a birding trip. However, the swampy field along the trail to Love Waterfall was very productive and birding the lower areas of Phan Xi Pang mountain was also great, irrespective of the time of the year (early) although diversity was still low.

I will need some time to sort everything out, but this is the information I can share right now. Any suggestions on the IDs are very welcome. The streams were still mostly empty, but the pools and swampy fields had interesting species. Orthetrum glaucum, O. pruinosum, O. triangulare and O. sabina were to be expected, but O. internum was the commonest species by far. I had not seen it before in Vietnam. The presence of Anax nigrofasciatus was a nice surprise, with 2 males at the marsh of Love Waterfall and another somewhere over a pond. A freshly emerged, but somewhat damaged Anotogaster male was also a wonderful find on Phan Xi Pang. And Libellula melli was yet another species I had not expected. This cousin of the Eurasian L. depressa occurs in Southern China but to my knowledge is new for Vietnam.

Damselflies were also very interesting, although I encountered only a few. A Megalestes species was found emerging at various locations and once a mature female was seen, but escaped before it good be photographed. Common in a variety of habitats was a species that seems to be a Mesopodagrion species, and as it does not look like M. tibetanum, it could be M. yachowensis. To be continued. Another species seen only once is also an unknown, suggestions are welcome. This was a beautiful species similar in size to the Mesopodagrion and interacting with it in the forest. I am at a loss for now. And the last damsel found was Ceriagrion fallax. It was common at one particular stream near Sapa town.

Let's start with the completely unknown, suggestions welcome!

The same damsel, detail of thorax

The same damsel, lateral view of appendages

Anax nigrofasciatus, male

Ceriagrion fallax, male

Orthetrum internum, male

Megalestes spec, work in progress, female

Very cool Mesopodagrion species, male

Mesopodagrion species in tandem

Libellula melli, male, new for Vietnam

The unfortunate Anotogaster male, something went wrong during emergence

Anax guttatus

I never get tired of Anax species. Is does not matter where you go on this planet (well, Antarctica springs to mind) or you will bump into one or a few species. Anax is the only genus of which a representative reached Iceland (Anax ephippiger). That same species also crosses the Atlantic to reach the Caribbean. Quite a feat. In Viet Nam there is one common species, Anax guttatus. It is a large species, with blue markings on S2, light blue and white markings on S3, some yellow in the hindwing, a greenish thorax, face and frons with very little black, and three lateral spots on S4-6.

Anax guttatus, male

Appendages in ventral view