An updated list for my three visits to Phu Quoc in 2015 and 2016

During my stay in Vietnam I was able to visit Phu Quoc island, located off the coast of Cambodia to the west of the Vietnamese Mekong delta, several times. It has a very interesting Odonate fauna compared to the rest of Vietnam, with several rare species, not seen elsewhere in Vietnam. I visited the island from 28 December 2015 to 2 January 2016, again from April 12 and April 15, 2016 and finally from August 19 to 21, 2016. Some species are very local and also occur only in the dry or in the rainy season, so not everything can be seen in any one trip. I already published a list after my first trip. This list is updated here to include all records, to which I added the months in which species were recorded by me in Roman capitals. But first a few photos of good species not published here previously.

Neurothemis intermedia male, 19 August 2016 

A second Neurothemis intermedia male from August 19, 2016

A target species I had been looking for on all my trips, which had been recorded by Bui (2008). Apparently this rare species is a summer species on the island. I only saw a single female, Lyriothemis mortoni.

The fascinating Platylestes platystylus, also on the island of Phu Quoc., August 20, 2016

Immature male of Brachydiplax sobrina, August 20 

And nearby an immature female, much harder to find generally

Monstrous Epophthalmia vittigera, a wonderful male, caught on August 21, 2016

A lovely Ceriagrion calamineum, previously recorded from the island, but misidentified as C. aurantiacum in Bui (2008). Finally found on 21 August 2016.

Agrionoptera insignis male over a dark pool, August 19, 2016. The only specimen I saw on my three visits.

The List:

Lestes praemorsus* VIII

Platylestes platystylus* VIII

Vestalis gracilis I, IV, VIII, XII

Libellago hyalina I, IV, VIII, XII

Heliocypha biforata I, IV, VIII, XII

Euphaea cyanopogon**** I, IV, VIII, XII

Rhinagrion viridatum XII, VIII

Podolestes coomansi***** IV

Aciagrion borneense I, XII

Agriocnemis minima* IV, VIII, XII

A. nana* IV, VIII, XII

A. pygmaea I, VIII, XII

Amphicnemis valentini**** VIII

Archibasis viola I, IV, VIII, XII

Ceriagrion calamineum** VIII

C. cerinorubellum IV, VIII, XII

C. malaisei* VIII

C. olivaceum* I, IV, XII

Ischnura senegalensis I, IV, XII

Mortonagrion falcatum*** I

Onychargia atrocyana IV, VIII

Paracercion calamorum* IV, VIII

Pseudagrion australasiae* IV, VIII, XII

P. microcephalum I, IV, XII

P. rubriceps IV, XII

P. pruinosum I

P. williamsoni I, IV, VIII, XII

Coeliccia kazukoae** I, IV

Coeliccia yamasakii IV

Pseudocopera ciliata* IV, VIII, XII

Copera vittata** I, IV, VIII, XII

Prodasineura verticalis** I, IV, VIII, XII

Anax guttatus I, VIII, XII

Gynacantha basiguttata* I, VIII

G. bayadera* I

G. subinterrupta* I

Heliaeschna crassa*** IV

Ictinigomphus decoratus meleanops I, IV, VIII

Paragomphus capricornis* XII

Epophthalmia frontalis* I

E. vittigera* VIII

Acisoma panorpoides IV, VIII, XII

Agrionoptera insignis* VIII

Brachydiplax chalybea* IV, VIII, XII

B. sobrina* IV, VIII

Brachygonia oculata IV, VIII

Brachythemis contaminata I, VIII, XII

Cratilla lineata IV

Crocothemis servilia I

Diplacodes nebulosa I, IV, VIII, XII

D. trivialis I, IV, XII

Hydrobasileus croceus I, VIII

Indothemis limbata*** I, VIII

Lathrecista asiatica I, IV, VIII

Lyriothemis mortoni VIII

Nannophya pygmaea IV, VIII, XII

Neurothemis fluctuans I, IV, VIII, XII

N. tullia IV, XII

N. fulvia IV, VIII, XII

N. intermedia* IV, VIII, XII

Orchithemis pulcherrima IV, VIII

Orthetrum sabina I, IV, VIII, XII

O. pruinosum* XII

O. chrysis I, IV, VIII, XII

Pantala flavescens I, VIII, XII

Potamarcha congener I, IV, VIII, XII

Pseudothemis jorina** I

Rhodothemis rufa* IV, VIII, XII

Rhyothemis aterrima* IV

R. obsolescens IV, VIII

R. phyllis I, IV, VIII, XII

R. variegata I, IV, XII

R. triangularis IV, VIII

Tetrathemis irregularis IV, XII

Tholymis tillarga I, IV, VIII, XII

Tramea transmarina euryale* I, VIII, XII

Trithemis festiva IV, XII

T. aurora I, IV, VIII, XII

T. pallidinervis I, IV, VIII

Urothemis signata I, IV, VIII

Zygonyx iris I, VIII

Zyxomma petiolatum* IV, VIII, XII

*       Refers to species first recorded on the island, although some are very common

**     Coeliccia kazukoae had already been found by Floris Brekelmans, but is not rare. Prodasineura verticalis had been recorded as Prodasineura sp. Copera vittata had been misidentified previously (as C. marginipes), but is a very common species. Pseudothemis jorina had been recorded but misidentified (presumably) as P. zonata. Ceriagrion calamineum had been misidentified as C. aurantiacum.

***   Refers to species recorded for the first time for Vietnam (as far as I know)

****  Refers to a species novum, but misidentified in previous surveys.

*****Recorded by Flores Brekelmans, not by me, but published on this blog

Neurothemis species at Cat Tien

In the north of Vietnam I bump into Neurothemis fulvia regularly. At Ba Be for instance it is really common. The other Neurothemis here is N. tullia, but I have here in the north only seen it at Van Long. Plus a lonely record of N. intermedia at Cuc Phuong of a single female. But at Cat Tien there are three common species. N. fulvia occurs all over the place. N. tullia is common especially at the fishponds. And Neurothemis fluctuans is a small red-winged species that I have not seen in the north, indeed I am not aware of any records in the north. During my visit in November I also saw a single female (again) of N. intermedia. Although apparently in Thailand for instance this can be a very common species, here I saw just a single specimen at a dried out former pond in open terrain. Maybe she had just sort of happened upon the place, a drifter. Below some shots of the Neurothemis species I took during the trip and a few shots of Brachythemis contaminata. That very common species is a possible pit-fall for female and immature N. fluctuans.

Let's begin with the male of Brachythemis contaminata. The black middle line on the abdomen and the orange wing-pattern, darker near the middle, help identify. 

This is the female of B. contaminata. The blackish line along the dorsum of the abdomen is very obvious and absent in the Neurothemis species.

Female Neurothemis fluctuans. Note the dotted line close to the lateral carina and only a very thin line over the dorsal carina on the abdomen.

In dorsal view, the dotted line located just short of at the very edge of each segment.

Another female showing the typical dotted line on the abdomen. This specimen also with darkened wingtips.

The immature male showing the same, but somewhat more pronounced abdominal pattern and the wing pattern of the adult male in orange brown.

The mature male, with abdominal pattern obscured by dark reddish colour and now deep red wings, with the transparent tips to the hind wings extending along the posterior edge towards the middle.

In comparison, male N. fulvia, with transparent tips reduced to the apex of the wing only, not extending along the posterior edge.

Another male N. fulvia. The transparent apex starts halfway the pterostigma.

Female N. intermedia, with typical broad uninterrupted lateral line and dark humeral stripe

Female N. tullia, smallish species with dark brown and white wing pattern.

The male of which has extensive black on inner wings and whitish-grey outer wings.

A few more libellulids from Cat Tien*

*Adjusted on December 28. Tetrathemis platyptera replaced by T. irregularis hyalina.

I saw a few more interesting Libellulids at Cat Tien in early August; interesting as I had not seen them before, or rarely, or in the case of Tetrathemis, was a new record for me.

The first is a small Neurothemis species, N. fluctuans. It differs from the quite a bit larger N. fulvia by the hyaline margin along the posterior edge of the hindwing.

An immature male Neurothemis fluctuans.

The female of Lathrecista asiatica, a common species of the south, although absent in the north. It occurs on pools and puddles in the forest

Immature male Lathrecista asiatica

Male Lathrecista asiatica with red abdomen and pruinose thorax.

Yet another stunning little male dragonfly that was common at the fishponds, Aethriamantha brevipennis. Although Sebastien has recorded it in the north, I have never seen them there and these were my first observations.

Again I apologize for the poor quality of the picture, this one taken with a very much steamed up lens.  It is the female of Tetrathemis irregularis hyalina, which I saw on several occasions on forested ponds.

Speaking of pretty bad photos, a record shot of Tramea transmarina euryale, yet again. Although not common, certainly not rare either.

Male Pseudothemis jorina, another southern species. In Northern Vietnam common P. zonata occurs. I do not know where the border between the distributions of these closely allied species is, or whether there is overlap.

Neurothemis tullia, N. fulvia, and N. intermedia

It is autumn in Hanoi, typhoon Haiyan is bringing lots of rain and wind. I just returned from a 10 day trip to the Netherlands, hence the silence on the blog and even if I still saw Brachythemis contaminata outside our window today, there is not a lot going on in Odonate country close to home. But there are still some loose ends to tie up and one is the Neurothemis genus. And it is a good thing I started doing that today, because checking the genus I remembered an odd unidentified female libellulid I saw at Cuc Phuong late July and now finally clinched the ID, Neurothemis intermedia!

There are 4 Neurothemis species that have been recorded in Vietnam according to the synopsis by Do Manh Cuong. There is N. fluctuans, recorded in southern Vietnam, and N. fulvia, N. tullia and N. intermedia, all three recorded both in the north and in the south. I have only seen intermedia once, in Cuc Phuong, Ninh Binh Province, and N. fulvia was very very common around Ba Be, in rice paddies, but otherwise I have seen it only once at Tam Dao National Park and once at Cuc Phuong, all in July and August, although that may be more due to the fact that I visited Ba Be in July than that it is restricted to those months. And N. tullia, which apparently is a very common species in for instance Thailand, I saw only in Van Long Nature Reserve, although there is was common where it occurred, which was in grassy shallow pools. These are attractive libellulids, with colorful wings.

I admit, the photos are not the best. I promise to do better next time I run into them.

Neurothemis fulvia, male, basking in the summer sun

Another male N. fulvia at Ba Be

Neurothemis tullia, female, with a striking wing pattern, not easy to overlook

Neurothemis tullia, male, likewise, at Van Long Nature Reserve 

Female Neurothemis intermedia, with striking abdominal lines, but no obvious wing markings. Hope to see a male soon!