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

Pia Oac in October - continued

I had a fascinating day at Xuan Son this weekend, with a plethora of Planaeschnids. That is a mixed blessing, as writing up is going to be a headache. So first a few goodies from Pia Oac on October 18. Amongst the few damsels that I saw while looking for Aeshnids I took photos of a few.

First to show is this wonderful male Ceriagrion fallax, a common species at this altitude, but always beautiful and more so with the bit of moisture clinging to it.

Then I was lucky enough to bump into a copula of Noguchiphaea yoshikoae. No idea what the function of the horns is on their prothorax. In close-up they run parallel to the male paraprocts holding her, but apparently without interaction.

And finally this well mature female of Ischnura carpentieri.

Looking for Aeshnids

After last weekend in Pia Oac and the not-quite Planaeschna tomokunii, I decided to see if I could find a male. I woke up to a bright and sunny Pia Oac on Saturday morning and soon caught another male Planaeschna tamdaoensis, but from that moment my luck changed. Although I saw quite a few Aeshnids on this in the end rather cloudy day, I failed miserably with the net and did not catch any. Especially bothersome, because some certainly were not P. tamdaoensis, not likely P. cf. tomokunii for that matter. I did get a few better shots of Vestalaria smaragdina this time, and my first andromorph female Ischnura carpentieri, when I spotted what looked like a male ovipositing. Of course in this genus this is not uncommon, but whether or not it is also common in this species I do not know. Otherwise the birding was relatively good, with a large flock of Grey-headed Parrotbill, a new species for me, and pretty dandy Golden Parrotbills in another good flock.

Sunday I went to Tam Dao, to find the real Planeaschna tomokunii, but I did not see anything really, although I was happy to take photos of female Megalestes haui and it was good to see Coeliccia scutellum. This is a common species, but I had been spending relatively little time in places where they occur this summer, so it was good to meet again. Otherwise this day was enlivened with a flock of 24 Crested Serpent Eagles lifting off from a small hill in the plain to start their day's migration.

Female Ischnura carpentieri eating a bug after ovipositing

The male for comparison, note the brighter pterostigmata (amongst others)

Megalestes haui male from Pia Oac

Megalestes haui female from Tam Dao, above the village

Yes, I know, this is a dragonfly page and it is a shitty photo, but hey, recognizable, Grey-headed Parrotbill

Male Vestalaria smaragdina. Note the long inferior appendages and unmarked wings.

Male Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, also from Pia Oac, showing for instance the apical dark spot on the front wing

An amber-winged female of Vestalaria smaragdina. Note the lack of horns on the prothorax. 

Male Coeliccia scutellum, having just dropped the bug it was eating (now on the leaf between the legs)

Leftovers from Pia Oac

A bit of a misnomer, leftovers, for these wonderful species that I also took pictures of on October 4.

This is Ischnura carpentieri in copula, the male easy to recognize (as member of rufostigma group at least), the female notoriously difficult. A common species in the mountains.

Sympetrum hypomelas does not only occur in Sapa, but also in the lower mountains of northern Vietnam, like here at Pia Oac at approximately 1000m.

This is a male Macromia moorei, still surprisingly common this time of the year at Pia Oac. Note the almost complete band on S2

The same male in dorsal view and under flash

And in hand, showing the obvious lobe that distinguishes it from M. pinrantani vietnamica

Ischnura senegalensis

IUCN lists Ischnura senegalensis as extremely widespread and with high tolerance for disturbance and pollution. It occurs from South-Africa to Japan. Vietnam is no exception. This is a common species, nowhere really abundant, but always present, in rice fields, ditches, verges of ponds, wet grassland and so on. It is rather similar to various other Ischnura species, but in Vietnam it is easily set aside from the orange species. The female is also readily recognizable, with the dark dorsum of the synthorax, a pattern also found in the much smaller Agriocnemis species like A. femina, but size readily sets them apart.

Ischnura senegalensis, male

Ischnura senegalensis, female

Ischnura carpentieri and Ischnura rubilio

September is drawing to a close, but the weather was warm and sunny, so September 28 I decided to drive to Xuan Son National Park. I had no idea what it would be like, they have a website, but it did not seem to be maintained. Well, that was not the only thing that had not been maintained for a while. The gate was open and not a sole in sight (later there was) and near the office building, nobody and the buildings seemingly only partially in use. I drove on to the school building and other buildings (a small hospital and I guess lodging, the hospital not in use and the lodging used by Water Buffalo. On the other hand, a massive concrete road through the reserve and after walking the trail near the school over the hill, the next valley and hamlets were also being connected by a massive road that had been freshly cut through the forest. All not boding to well. I did not find bigger streams in the reserve while I was there, but I checked the rice fields and their borders. Many Crocothemis servilia, Diplacodes trivialis, Orthetrum sabina and O. pruinosum, but also Acisoma Panorpoides, and several damsels. My attention was caught by two different damsels with orange abdomen and blue tip, both seemingly forktails (Ischnura), one larger and one smaller. The larger one (of which I saw only two) was a member of the Ischnura rufostigma group. There is a lot of confusion about the four members of the group and I do not have the Asahina 1991 paper. That may be lucky, as apparently that only increased the confusion. But be that as it may, the dorsum of S8 is all blue and therefore I will categorize it for the time being as I. carpentieri. The other, smaller, species was more common and I saw it in several locations. This is Ischnura rubilio, a pretty thing indeed.

Ischnura carpentieri, male (Or I. rufostigma, for the lumpers)

Ischnura rubilio, male

A different male

Ischnura rubilio, female

And another female