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)

Vestalaria smaragdina and Noguchiphaea yoshikoae at Pia Oac

Right near the top of the pass on the TL 212, near the little bog that has been such a great place during recent trips, the forest was full with Yellow-and-green Calopterids. In the early morning just inside the forest edge we noticed several females of Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, with their horned prothorax and obvious pseudo-pterostigma relatively easy to recognize. Later, when the sun was out, we also had quite a few males. We then also started noticing a few orange-winged similar looking damsels mixed in with the crowd, but on closer inspection these missed the spot at the wingtip and on even closer inspection, missed horns on the prothorax and had different appendages. At home the riddle was quickly solved. These are Vestalaria smaragdina, a widespread montane species, occurring from India in the west to Vietnam in the east, although to my knowledge only collected by Asahina from Sapa. Being an autumn species, it may have largely eluded visiting research parties, that favor springtime and early summer. We not only saw it at the same location with the Noguchiphaea. Although we only noticed the latter species at that one location, we ran into Vestalaria smaragdina at several streams at different altitudes inside the park. For Noguchiphaea this is a new location. I have seen it before at Tam Dao and inside Xuan Son NP.

Male Vestalaria smaragdina, somewhat skittish and later I was focussed on other things, so this is the best in situ shot

Scan of male V. smaragdina, showing orange wings without pseudo-pterostigma. Clear-winged males also occur.

Appendages of V. smaragdina in dorsal view

And in ventral view, showing the hooked inferiors and lobed superiors

Female Noguchiphaea yoshikoae under flash, note bleu-grey lower eyes

Male N. yoshikoae caught in the act. Note the blue lower eyes and dark spot on wingtip.

Characteristic appendages of the male, with dorsal spine

Noguchiphaea yoshikoae and Vestalaria miao

This weekend provided excellent opportunity to compare two similar species, even if in fact they belong to different genera. Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, named in 1976 by Asahina, and Vestalaria miao, named by Wilson and Reels in 2001. In Xuan Son National Park they can be seen side by side almost, at least in close proximity and on the same small stream. Interestingly in the morning only V. miao was present, but later in the afternoon there were as many N. yoshikoae as there were V. miao.
Although both species have a green head, green prothorax, green and yellow synthorax and green abdomen with whitish S8-10 dorsum and otherwise also a similar shape, there are clear structural differences in the shape of the appendages and in the typical horns that Noguchiphaea sports on the posterior lobe of the prothorax. These are more apparent in the female than in the male, but are well visible in hand. However, there are some clear characteristics that can be seen with binoculars to separate these two species. Although V. miao has a brownish edge along the wingtips, N. yoshikoae has very clear black "stigmata" (although technically not the same as pterostigmata, it is a pigmented area, black and well demarcated. Also, the lower half of the eyes is, just as in the females, blueish grey in Noguchiphaea, but green in Vestalaria.

Vestalaria miao, male

Another male. Note green eyes and diffuse brownish wingtips.

Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, male. Note blueish grey lower halves to eyes (and dark reddish brown upper) and very sharply demarcated stigmata of the front wings.

In close up the horns on the pronotum are also visible in the males of Noguchiphaea.

Note the lack of horns in Vestalaria and the color of the eyes

Note the horns on the posterior lobe of the prothorax and the color of the eyes of Noguchiphaea

Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, male in hand, compare shape with V. miao

V. miao, male in hand, compare with N. yoshikoae for instance shape of appendages

Noguchiphaea yoshikoae

In August I had seen several females of Noguchiphaea yoshikoae at Tam Dao, close to the resort. I saw only teneral females then, so here at least was a species that I might still bump into this late in the season. Indeed, I was happily surprised to see 1 or 2 males today and one female. One of the males was holding territory over a puddle by the side of the stream, whereas the female was seen inside the forest a little further removed from the stream. It is a very nice species.

Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, male

And Noguchiphaea yoshikoae, female, a harder shot up in the tree