Cephalaeschna aritai - a peculiar Aeshnid

May 17 I was posting by a little pond near Sa Pa, waiting for a medium-sized dragonfly I had seen earlier that day (that subsequently turned out to be Procordulia asahinai), when at the end of the afternoon an Aeshnid appeared that started hunting erratically over the pond and nearby bushes. It seemed to have a very striped abdomen and I was lucky enough to be able to net it. In hand it did not look like anything I knew. Especially the thorax pattern was very peculiar. It was a female, but I was hopeful I might be able to find out what it was, exactly because of its weird patterning. I decided to write to Haruki Karube, who was quick to respond and pointed to Cephalaeschna aritai, a species he described from Sa Pa in 2003. Because the types where bought from local collectors there was some doubt about their exact origin, but this record proves that it indeed occurs in the Sa Pa region. The female and the male share the peculiar pattern on the thorax, making this species easy to recognize.

Female Cephalaeschna aritai, with interesting pattern of spots and lines both laterally and dorsally on the thorax, plus a very distinctly banded abdomen.

The interesting broken dorsal line and rectangular antehumeral spot.

Facial pattern in brown and pale yellow

Cephalaeschnid abdominal tip

Yen Bai - Aeshnid headache*

**The species shown here was described in 2017 in Karube & Kompier as Cephalaeschna algorei

Last weekend was great weather, so I decided to drive the Yen Bai and check out the autumn status of things. On Saturday I visited Xuan Son and saw a great many old friends, but nothing I had not seen before. I drove on in the evening to Nghia Lo and stayed in the local hotel, drove on the next morning to the general Yen Bai area. At one of the first stops around 10 AM I caught a beautiful Anotogaster, on which more in the next post. I then around noon checked the trail and stream at the fish farm and motel. There was not really a lot going on, although Anisopleura were plentiful. But in one shaded part of the trail (less shaded all the time because of tree cutting) I saw an Aeshnid that after a short flight over the trail hung up in the trees. With some very careful climbing I was able to get to it without disturbing it. Examining the specimen it appears to be a Cephalaeschna, judging from the venation and the number of cells in the anal triangle. Also, a broad frons. The appendages are blunt, but not rounded, in fact they display a small point. There are quite a few Cephalaeschnids in China, but only a few have been recorded for Vietnam. I am aware of C. aritai and C. asahinai and recently Sebastien caught something close to C. klotsi. The facial markings of my specimen are very close to that described by Karube for C. asahinai, but it has a small apical tooth to the appendages that should be absent in the rounded appendages of C. asahinai. I am still waiting for the article by Asahina (1981) with the exact description of C. needhami, but appendages ( long inferior, slightly pointed superiors) and facial pattern apparently match. It cannot be ruled out this is a completely new species, but for the time being I will consider it C. cf. needhami. Any suggestions more than welcome!

Up in the tree, Cephalaeschna. Note the greenish markings and the reddish femurs. 

In hand, reddish legs obvious, as is the long epiproct.

In dorsal view, note 5 celled anal triangle and small pterostigmata

Facial pattern with yellowish-red labrum, greenish yellow postclypeus, antefrons dark reddish brown with greenish lower margin.

Appendages in dorsal view. Note that they are not rounded, if blunt, with angular corner,. Epiproct two-thirds of superiors. 

Lateral view of the same

Ventral view. Again the corners not rounded.

Penis in lateral view. Flagella longer than apical segment, double

Penile organ in ventral view

*Haomiao Zhang commented that this species is indeed close to C. needhami (and C. klotsi), but that it is neither. It could well be a new species.