Another Rhinocypha, sadly forgotten

On 25-27 September I visited Quang Nam Province around P'rao on the HCM Highway and on the 26th spotted a Rhinocypha up in a tree above the stream. I could make some quick and dirty photos just before it flew off, never to be seen again. It is superficially similar to R. seducta from the previous post, but lacks the dorsal stripes. It is R. watsoni, a species from Central Vietnam. I forgot to post it, but now that James produced R. seducta, I remembered this species from last autumn.

Male Rhinocypha watsoni up in a tree in broad sunlight

Two new Rhinocypha species from Cat Tien National Park

Today I received a message from James Holden. He had done some deep exploring into the forests of Cat Tien National Park and although it had been excruciating, he also came up with some goodies! Two photos of Rhinocypha species he sent could readily be identified as two species that I wished I had seen. Both are apparently rare. R. fulgipennis is easily confused with immature R. fenestrella, but the colour of the wing is different. R. seducta shares dark-tipped wings with R. watsoni, but has broad orange red dorsal stripes on the thorax. I tip my hat to James for finding these cool species!

Male Rhinocypha fulgipennis, courtesy of James Holden

Brilliant Rhinocypha seducta, courtesy of James Holden

Mature Rhinocypha chaoi and a female Macromia septima

July 12 I went to Mau Son in Lang Son Province, another long drive. And at Mau Son followed the grueling walk down to the stream in the valley, followed by the climb back up. It was warm and it was not pleasant. I also received several bee stings (thank you, bees).

But I found what I came for, Rhinocypha chaoi. One of the prettiest damsels I have seen (and I have seen many). In May I had an immature male, but really wanted to see the adult. In the end I saw 5 males and a female.

While searching for them I noticed a smallish Macromia that flew a few round over the stream and then went up into a tree, where it hung from a leaf. I could just catch it and I was thrilled to see it was M. urania. But then I noticed the face was reddish, and thus it was M. septima! Only the second time I see this species and the second female. The males must be out there!

Male Rhinocypha chaoi. This species is so beautiful, it is unreal.

In dorsal view the abdomen is particularly striking. When it flies about you see azure specks dance over the water surface.

The female up in a tree having a snack.

Female Macromia septima. Note the amber wing-patches and the antehumeral surrounded by red (see also below) 

Note the reddish lower half of the dorsal side of the thorax and the reddish face

New Year's Resolution 1 in the pocket

I visited Mau Son several times before, but had failed to find the beautiful Rhinocypha chaoi that occurs there. I now had a vague inkling of where the stream was supposed to be that they inhabit and I plunged down the hills into the valley beyond Khuoi Cap Village, fighting my way heroically through the forest and the bamboo stands. And reached the stream. But not a single Rhinocypha chaoi in sight. A nice big stream with larger boulders, quite different from the trickles elsewhere on the mountain, but no jewels. I found a trail from the stream back towards the village, which was a great help, it being 36 degrees and a steep climb anyway. And the next morning, May 3, I made it back to the stream again. Lo and behold, there it was, a fresh male Rhinocypha chaoi. Not yet the fantastic blue creature in the New Year's Resolutions entry courtesy of Toan, but I was thrilled and happy to see it nonetheless. Clearly it is still early in the season for it. It should be more common towards the end of May.

Rhinocypha chaoi was described by Wilson in 2004 and is apparently widely distributed in southern China, although in Vietnam it is only known from this one site. Here are a few shots of it.

It will be much bluer, especially on the abdomen, but the basic pattern is already visible: immature male Rhinocypha chaoi.

In this photo of the same individual the areas on the abdomen that will be blue are already obvious.

March 28, first trip to Xuan Son of the season

The weather forecast said that west of Hanoi might be sunny in the afternoon, so I decided to drive to Xuan Son today. As is often the case, the forecast was wrong, so a cloudy day. Nevertheless I encountered at least some goodies, although nothing unexpected. Euphaea masoni was already very common and E. guerini was out and about too. In the damselfly department Mnais mneme was common too, and I saw the first Pseudagrion pruinosum of the season. Orolestes selysi was also present in decent numbers at the "Gynacantha puddle".
I was really hoping to see Nihonogomphus schorri, which had been omnipresent in April last year. Cloudy circumstances made it impossible to judge whether it is already common in March, but I saw one male briefly. A first female Macromia flew by. Could not verify the species though, shame. And at the "Gynacantha puddle" a few Cratilla lineata and quite a few adult or semi-adult Gynacantha subinterrupta were huddled in the bushes. All in all not at all bad, given the time of the year and the weather.

Not the best of photos, but anyway, Nihonogomphus schorri, as soon as the sun showed itself, no matter how short.

Female Rhinocypha perforata, quite common

And the male of Rhinocypha perforata. See the lateral thorax pattern. It is the same as in the female, although the forum is very different.

Neurobasis chinensis is a common damsel, but also very pretty, especially when it displays the top side of the hindwing.

The female of Neurobasis chinensis, with the typical double white dot.

Euphaea masoni already very common. This specimen kind enough to keep its wings open, displaying the typical translucent base and tip in the forewing and the reddish brown luster to the inside of the wings.

But the outside is dark blueish

Mnais mneme male, this one already pruinose on the thorax, a feature missing in Mnais andersoni.

The female of Mnais mneme, specimen with reddish veins

Immature (and already missing a pair of legs) Mnais mneme. When there is no pruinosity on the thorax it can be separated from Mnais andersoni through the structure of the penile organ.

Gynacantha subinterrupta with its typical abdominal pattern of oblique light bands. This individual almost adult, but the thorax still not fully green and the face still whitish.

Face of the same individual, showing cream white, not yet yellow.

Different male, this one with yellow face and green thorax, fully mature

First entry of 2015, New Year's Resolutions

Recently I met with Toan when he was in Hanoi and he showed me a few intriguing photos. Clearly there is so much more to still look for. As a matter of fact, Nannophya pygmaea has already been on my wish list for a long time. It is therefore really heartening to know it is around in northern Vietnam. Toan had seen it in Ha Tinh Province. He also had photos of a fantastic blue Prodasineura. It looks like it could be P. doisuthepensis. It has been suggested that that species is a junior synonym of P. auricolor, just a blue version. However, it consistently seems to have more blue on S9-10 and a blue pattern on the prothorax and top of the head. These are absent in P. auricolor, not just replaced with yellow. I have seen many P. auricolor in the north, but never any that were blue, whereas that is highly distinctive. I do hope to see this blue gem in 2015 and maybe solve the mystery. And yet another species I would love to see, and for which I in fact already searched a few times (in the wrong places apparently) at Mau Son is beautiful Rhinocypha chaoi. There must be so much out there that I still missed, just check Sebastien's blog, or the literature, that 2015 will beyond a doubt prove very interesting. For now, my year list as of today includes Ischnura senegalensis.

Nannophya pygmaea, the world's smallest dragonfly (photo by Phan Quoc Toan)

And who would not want to see this beauty. Possible Prodasineura doisuthepensis, courtesy of Phan Quoc Toan

And painfully beautiful, certainly if you failed to find it, like me. Rhinocypha chaoi male, photo by Phan Quoc Toan.

A Cat Tien goody - Libellago hyalina

To my knowledge there are two species of Libellago recorded from Vietnam. Widespread Libellago lineata I encountered many times and Cat Tien National Park was no exception. It was quite common. But I noticed a male higher up in a bush that seemed to have a different abdominal pattern. Checking it in hand revealed also a different thorax pattern, with a kind of zigzag line. It turned out to be Libellago hyalina, a species known from nearby Binh Duong Province. It was less common than L. lineata, but still I encountered it every day in small numbers. The younger males and the females displayed the zigzag pattern, but later I also saw several mature males, with completely green-metallic thorax, quite different from L. lineata.

Young male Libellago hyalina, showing zigzag pattern on side of thorax and hyaline wingtips.

The female showing the same side pattern, the photo a little hazy due to foggy lenses

A mature male caught along a forested stream, where it was sitting low on weeds. The thorax now completely green and the abdomen showing the extensive reddish brown dorsum. The wing tips hyaline in this specimen too, even if you cannot see that in the photo.

Rainy day in Huu Lien

Saturday July 24 I ventured to Huu Lien. Like Sebastien's visit last week in Xuan Son, to turned into a major wash out. After a good start in the forest or what is left of it, thunder sounded and the heavens opened. I found large parts of the reserve inundated anyway, presumably the result of the typhoon passing last week. As usual, a visit to Huu Lien gave mixed emotions. There is a lot to see, but on the way there I was met by dozens of motorbikes carrying logs and passing unnoticed by the entry gate. Clearly these are not people from inside the reserve using the forest. And the trail to the waterfall, described by Cuong as in largely pristine forest, is now open in several parts, where trees have been cut and right there turned into coal in shallow pits. It is really sad. Several people where busy producing coal while I was there and of course this continues day after day. Somehow nobody does anything about it.

Nevertheless the forest was full of Atrocalopteryx atrocyana, a fabulous damsel. I had not seen it yet this year, but now there were a great many fluttering about. Not easy to get good pictures, as they are both shy and because there is a need for flash in the dark surroundings where they were lurking. As distance varies, so does the lighting.

Female Atrocalopteryx atrocyana. If the forest disappears near the stream, it will be a severe blow for this species.

Male of the same species. The flash brings out the beautiful blue wings. Note also the long spikes on all legs.

Another male

Another great find was a male Rhinocypha of the drusilla group. It is different in detail from the species inhabiting Xuan Son. Last year I saw only a few and could only take pictures of one. This is the first for this year. In Xuan Son I have not seen its sibling species yet.

Note the extensive pattern of red on S9-10, but also extensive red on the remainder of the abdomen, but restricted to the dorsum of S2.

Another speciality that was present in good numbers is the small Coeliccia that also occurs in Cuc Phuong. I hope it description and name will be published soon.

Coeliccia sp, the female

And the male. A pretty species for sure, a lot smaller than most.

And lastly, I ran into a bundle of ovipositing Prodasineura croconota. Interesting I hope are the shots of the female.

Hovering in the dark, not easy, hence not in focus

The female of Prodasineura croconota

And the male, better known

Not all that glitters is gold, sometimes it is Rhinocypha orea

Rhinocypha orea was described by Hamalainen & Karube based on specimens collected around Tam Dao in the 1990s. It was still seen by Do Manh Cuong in 2005, but development around Tam Dao village has been rampant and pollution of the surroundings profound. There was hope that this beautiful jewel would be elsewhere on the Tam Dao mountain range, but some feared it was lost. It was therefore wonderful that I saw one male on May 17 in the forest along the trail to Tam Dao 2. This is at approximately 1000m altitude, close to the altitude of the earlier records. I saw it perched on a bush in the forest under heavy tree cover, by a small stream. It came as another surprise when on May 18 I saw another male near the Tay Thien monastery, at only 300m asl or so, again in the forest perched on a bush. If it also occurs lower in the forest, there is hope it may still be around in some numbers. As far as we know, it is restricted to Tam Dao.

Rhinocypha orea, male. Very dark species with golden gloss on inside of hind wings and green gloss on tips of hind wings on the outside.

Rhinocypha orea, male

The beautiful golden top of the wings, difficult to see in the field

Mnais mneme and other Xuan Son goodies

Yes, we are in business! The first real sunny day of the spring in North Vietnam and I found myself in Xuan Son, for birds, but it was rather quiet, but I had good views of a singing Spotted Wren Babbler. But the sun also brought out quite a few dragons. Interestingly, several species were already in copula or ovipositing, so had been around for some time: Orthetrum pruinosum, Copera marginipes, Trithemis festiva, Pantala flavescens, not the rarest of species, but still.

The best species of the day was stunning Mnais mneme. I saw three males, all orange-winged. One I caught and it was very large, abdomen 49 mm, larger than either M. mneme or M. andersoni as described in Asahina's 1975 papers. The appendages pointed to M. andersoni, but the distal segment of the penile organ, as he calls it, is only very shallowly v-shaped, much like his Laos type. Based on this, and helped by the size, I identified it as M. mneme.

Mnais mneme, male orange-winged form

Appendages in ventral view. Tip of inferiors with hook and inferiors well short of superior appendages.

But see the almost t-shape of the distal segment

Another surprise was Ceriagrion azureum, two males in a rice field of all places. I had only seen this beautiful species in Ba Be National Park before. As they were a bit far away and I did not bring the long lens, a record shot only.

Ceriagrion azureum, beautiful species, bad photo

Heliocypha perforata was already common, with many males displaying. Here an immature male and a female.

Heliocypha perforata, female

And H. perforata, immature male, just starting to turn blue on the abdomen

Yet another species already common was Euphaea masoni. Many males were flitting about. Here an almost mature male and a female.

Is she crying, or just shy? Euphaea masoni, female

E. masoni, immature male

Vestalis gracilis was very common in some places, whereas in autumn it is not so easy to find in Xuan Son. I was a bit surprised how common it was already.

Two males Vestalis gracilis, side by side

And the last species I have photos of, Cratilla lineata. This species was also already ovipositing. Here a male.

Cratilla lineata, male

As it is interesting to know what the temporal distribution is of species, here the other species seen today:

Neurobasis chinensis, Aristocypha fenestrella, Agriocnemis femina, Paracercion calamorum, Coeliccia scutellum, Copera marginipes, C. ciliata, Prodasineura autumnalis, Pantala flavescens, Trithemis festiva, Orthetrum pruinosum, O. glaucum, O. triangulare, Brachythemis contaminata.

A total of 20 species, yes, we are in business!