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

Xuan Son outing, other records

The visit to Xuan Son was intended to search for some late season stream species. As we approached the National Park from the east and not from the north, we ended up at the wrong entrance. Wrong, because we could not find some essential streams in primary forest. Nevertheless we had quite a good time, but convinced we were in the wrong place we decided to try to approach from a different direction. Quite a challenge without a detailed map of the area and none of the villages mentioned. But we were successful in that we made it late in the afternoon to Lap Village. That was a fantastic place. The trial and error driving around route 32 brought us the already mentioned Lamelligomphus sp. and a Lesser Emperor, Anax parthenope junius. This is a species recorded as a vagrant from Vietnam, but it is likely it is more common. We saw a male over a pond by the road side, but it did not allow pictures. However, its small size, brownish abdomen with extensive light markings pointed away from A. guttatus and to this species. I guess we need a little more definite proof next time. In Lap Village one of the last dragonflies of the day was a smashing Matrona taoi, described from Xuan Son only two years ago. And because we were so late we sat a bit on a bridge at dusk before returning to Hanoi (a three and a half hour drive after all), when all of a sudden in the last light of the day the already mentioned Boyeria karubei started swarming. Not at all a bad October day, with 35 Odonate species. Besides the aforementioned goodies Onychothemis testacea also still put in an appearance. Below some of the stream damsels for which this is such a good area.

Matrona basilaris, male. We only saw one, but it is still early in the season

There were already quite a few Vestalis gracilis about, here a male

And here a teneral male. We saw several freshly emerged.

Copula of Vestalis gracilis

One of the targets: Matrona taoi, male, in all its splendor

Pretty Neurobasis chinensis, here the male, was common

Neurobasis chinensis, female

Euphaea decorata, female

Euphaea masoni, couple side by side

Heliocypha perforata, male. One of at least 5 species occurring in the area, of which we saw also R. biforata and Aristocypha fenestrella.