Anisopleura bipugio - also in central Vietnam

Hämäläinen & Karube described a new Anisopleura species from Lam Dong Prov. in southern Vietnam (technically at the very southern border of the Central Highlands) in 2013. I was never to verify it myself that far south, but in 2016 I ran into it several times. This is my third of fourth species of Anisopleura in Vietnam. In previous entries I introduced A. qingyuanensis and A. yunnanensis and a possible species novum from Pia Oac. The latter has different thorax pattern than A. yunnanensis, but its genital ligula and caudal appendages are seemingly the same and we could find no clear differences in DNA, so eventually decided not to describe it (Phan et al. 2018). Anisopleura is a tricky genus with a lot of look-alike species, so finding one that is remarkably different is pretty thrilling. This is certainly the case for A. bipugio, which has magnificent horns on its prothorax. I observed the species in Bach Ma National Park and nearby Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue Provinces. In Bach Ma it occurs together with A. qingyuanensis, which is common further north.

Male Anisopleura bipugio near the top of Bach Ma National Park, August 5, 2016

Close-up of male head, Thua Thien - Hue Prov., June 21, 2016. Females also have these remarkable horns.

Two new species for Xuan Son

23 November I drove to Xuan Son, yet again, in search of Planaeschna species. Sadly, the weather was not as good as hoped. It only become clear from 4 PM, way too late. But I did see some Planaeschna guentherpetersi and I also bumped into two species I had not seen at Xuan Son before. The first was Gynacantha japonica. I had seen that at Huu Lien, until now the only location in Vietnam, but evidently it is more widespread. I saw 3 flying around over a dried out muddy pond and was able to catch one. At the same location I had seen G. subinterrupta before, so it was a bit of a surprise to now catch a different species here. The other new species for the reserve was Anisopleura qingyuanensis. Not only a rather late observation, this was also interesting, because these are conspicuous insects and I have by now visited the area and the concerned stream so many times, it is truly a surprise to see it.

Very nice male Gynacantha japonica

And also very nice, male Anisopleura qingyuanensis. In fact more yellow than it looks in this picture.

The appendages in dorsal view

A new species of Anisopleura

There are currently 10 species of Anisopleura known. Recently Zhang & Hamalainen (2014) described a new species from Yunnan (A. pelecyphora), but A. lieftincki was shown to be a junior synonym of A. subplatystyla. Some species are very similar to others. A. yunnanensis is closely related to A. subplatystyla. That species occurs in northern Thailand and Zhang 7 Hamalainen hypothesize that it may also occur in northern Vietnam. However, for now we assume that it is A. yunnanensis that occurs in northern Vietnam. The commonest of Anisopleura in Vietnam appears to be A. qingyuanensis. During the road trip around northern Vietnamese provinces end of June and beginning of July I saw it in Lang Son, Yen Bai and Cao Bang provinces. I did not see A. yunnanensis, which until now I have only seen in Yen Bai. But in Cao bang Province in early July I ran into an Anisopleura that had the general pattern of A. qingyuanensis, but rather different coloration. In hand the appendages were clearly different, more close to A. yunnanensis. It was neither of these two species, the only two known from Vietnam, so I contacted Matti Hamalainen to ask him to please help me out. Matti pointed out that no known species has the combination of characters of my specimen. It is a new species to science and a beautiful one at that, even amongst Anisopleura species.

Anisopleura sp. novum, note the blueish antehumeral and yellow flanks, truly striking

Close-up of dorsum of thorax

Another in hand shot of this stunning insect

Anisopleura galore!

On May 10 and 11 I was working streams west of Nam Bung in Yen Bai Province. On the 10th I bumped into a male Anisopleura that sped off somewhere the moment I was looking for my net. And although I saw at least 3 different females thereafter, the male did not return. I took photos of several of these females and kept on looking for it also on the 11th. Finally I saw one with blue on the last segments and swept it, but to my surprise it was a female. I decided to keep it anyway. Now at home, checking the photos I noticed that all except for this specimen have ovals on the dorsum of the synthorax. So, not one, but two species! Without the oval A. qingyuanensis and with the oval A. yunnanensis. Hooray! Of course, I would love to see a few males to back it up, but for the moment I go with this.

Male Anisopleura yunnanensis with typical oval on dorsum

Female of A. yunnanensis, showing the same ovals

A different female, but the same characteristics

Hey, no ovals! Anisopleura qingyuanensis, a female