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)

Megalestes micans and Megalestes haui

*Adjusted 21 January 2020. Megalestes distans records all refer to M. haui. All entries have been adjusted.

Until now I have seen only two species of Megalestes in northern Vietnam. In April Megalestes micans at Sa Pa and M. haui at Ba Vi National Park. The trip around northern Vietnam brought some new records. Megalestes haui proved common along some streams in Pia Oac Nature Reserve, occurring sometimes in quite high densities, with 20 or so on a 150 m stretch of stream. Megalestes micans was still common and easily found in the Sa Pa region in early July. The one off was a male Megalestes haui at Sa Pa, occurring right by Megalestes micans. Apart from the differences in the appendages, they can also be told apart by the pattern of the prothorax. Megalestes micans has a yellow central line from the anterior lobe right to the posterior lobe. This can easily be seen with binoculars. It is necessary to check the appendages of M. haui carefully because of the possibility of M. distans, but I have not had the pleasure of being able to verify that species yet.

Male Megalestes haui, with dark prothorax (and of course different appendages)

Male Megalestes micans, showing the yellow line over the prothorax

Another, showing the same characteristic

And a third, for whoever was not convinced yet

Megalestes micans - emerging left and right at Sapa

When birding around Sapa we encountered everyday large spreadwing damsels. Only once did I see a mature female, which eluded capture. And only once was I able to put my hands on a teneral male, as females were much more common. The large square ventral tooth at the base of the superior appendages, which were otherwise smoothly rounded without widening in the distal half, pointed straight to Megalestes micans. The HW length of 35mm also nicely fitted the species. In these teneral individuals the thorax has a broad yellow stripe along the dorsal carina that apparently disappears completely in the mature specimens. It is therefore not clear to what extent the yellow pattern on the prothorax remains as it is in the below photos. M. micans has a typical pattern to the prothorax with yellow anterior and posterior lobes, connected by a yellow line over the prothorax itself, which fits nicely with the present markings, but it is likely that at least to some extent these markings will be obscured later. The shape of the appendages however leaves no doubt about the male and likely the accompanying females are thus of the same species, even if M. haui has also been recorded in the area (Do Manh Cuong in litt.).

Megalestes micans, female, teneral, with yellow middorsal stripe and yellow prothorax

The same female, carefully captured

The teneral male, stupidly forgot to take picture of the whole insect, note yellow mid dorsal stripe and posterior lobe of prothorax

The superior appendages, smoothly rounded and if you look carefully, with square ventral tooth visible near the base.

Another teneral female

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

Megalestes haui, what a beauty

September 14 I ventured towards Ba Vi for the first time not with a taxi, but with my freshly arrived car. It was a brilliant day, with lots of sun and quite warm, but we met more leeches than dragonflies. Gomphids were absent. Maybe the season has ended. We were lucky enough though to find one male Megalestes haui low along one stream, just a little higher up than the resort. Here is an impression.

Megalestes haui, male, in natural light

Close up of head, stunning eyes

Dorsal shot of the appendages

With flash, more metallic and a little less reddish

 Near the puddle at the French Summer Camp ruins, a very useful small reservoir of clean water that came into being when the newly constructed walkway blocked a small forest stream, a male Cratilla lineata was temporarily made prisoner. I have found this species several times at Ba Vi at small ponds in the forest.

Cratilla lineata, male

Otherwise little was happening, Coeliccia pyriformis and C. scutellum, Cryptophaea vietnamensis, Agriomorpha fusca, that was about it along the forest streams.