Coeliccia cyanomelas and its synonyms

Recently a paper was published by Yu et al. in IJO (2019) on Coeliccia cyanomelas. Before that, Steinhoff & Uhl (2015) had already shown that C. onoi was a junior synonym of C. cyanomelas. Now, Yu et al. showed that C. wilsoni, C. sexmaculata and C. mingxiensis were also junior synonyms of C. cyanomelas. And, if you have been following these pages, you will be aware that I had reported C. mingxiensis too. It had first been recorded by Do in 2009 from Tam Dao. Because it looks strikingly different from all other species in the region, I never stopped to properly think when I saw similar specimens and assumed they were C. mingxiensis. I should have known better, because the color of the eyes and the weakness of their bodies indicated that these are immature specimens. Coeliccia cyanomelas is just an extreme example of changes in coloration during various stages of maturity as often observed in the genus. Here are a few photos showing different stages.

Here a fresh C. cyanomelas with the typical reddish shoulders, white-pink appendages and comma shaped antehumerals. This is what we used to call C. mingxiensis

This is the same specimen with the thorax in close-up. The color of the eyes is clearly immature.

This is a somewhat more mature male. The thorax is much darker above, with the antehumerals reduced to short lines, but the shoulder is still reddish. The abdomen tip is now white, not pink, and the eyes coloring properly too.

Here the reddish shoulders are gone and blue tones are evident.

This is just a variant, with additional small spots close to the wing base.

And thrown in: an adult female. Females similarly go through pale yellow stages first, but eventually turn blue like the mature males.

Saying good-bye, a last visit to Xuan Son National Park

After 4 years of oding in Vietnam, I will be leaving. This blog will continue, because there is still a lot to publish. I have just been too busy trying to clean up some remaining issues. There simply was not enough time to write entries. Articles are the priority and even there I am behind. Not sure how many species the tally is, after 4 years. Probably around 440 species, but many first need a formal description. And then there is so much out there still to discover.

This spring and summer has been awful for dragonflies. It has just been cloudy and rainy. Some of the puzzles I wanted to solve therefore remain unsolved for now. But at least Sunday 23 July was a good and sunny day, even if I got soaked in the morning. The upside: only one leech lodged on my stomach.

Xuan Son has been wonderful, although the forest is being opened up by road building. I hope that will not lead to further incursions. The trees still stand and the stream remain good. Not sure how many species I actually saw there, somewhere in the range of 125-135 species. With several new species described and several more on the way. So, with the promise of some sun, this is where I went for my very last outing.

And to my huge surprise I ran not into 1, not 2, but 3 species I had not recorded there before. The first was a male Orthetrum melania superbum, a subspecies of O. melania described, and also only recorded, from Yen Bai. A large and conspicuous dragonfly that apparently tolerates abysmal conditions (puddles with muddy, water buffalo dung infested, water), but is nevertheless hardly ever seen. A single male attended a small pond. Fantastic.

This remains one of the most beautiful Orthetrum species I have seen 

By the early afternoon I wanted a change of scenery and drove to a nearby hill in the forest and noticed a dragonfly seemingly ovipositing on the wet concrete road. I got out and caught it and was very surprised to see it was a male, so why was it dipping its body in the wetness of the concrete? And it was a Chlorogomphus, in fact it was C. auratus, which I had never recorded in the park before. I guess I focus too much on the one fantastic stream, but ignore trickles on other mountains.

What is splendid discovery, Chlorogomphus auratus

Further afield still I wanted t check the area on the other side of the central hamlet and stopped by a small stream. A tiny trail ran next to it and I went in to see what it had to offer. And bumped into a small, Coeliccia pyriformis-sized, Coeliccia with large pale blue dorsal markings, a little like larger C. uenoi, but more rounded, and much like the even larger species we are currently describing from Ba Be. Indeed, under the microscope it is clearly closely related to that species, with similar genital ligula, similar appendages (although details differ), but obviously different thorax pattern and abdomen pattern (apart from the total insect being smaller than the abdomen of the Ba Be species alone, which is very robust).

To make sure it was not just aberrant I searched high and low and eventually, in a rather different location, was able to locate a second male, which was exactly like the first. How wonderful, to wrap up Vietnam with a new species of Coeliccia (coincidentally the 9th species of the genus occurring in Xuan Son, amazing).

Wonderful Coeliccia spec. nov. 

Close up of the thorax

So, back to the Netherlands and time to write up in earnest!

Coeliccia mientrung - a splendid new species

Today a new species of Coeliccia was published: Coeliccia mientrung. This is a species that looks quite a bit like Coeliccia pyriformis, but it differs actually in quite a few details of its coloration. The yellow on the abdomen tip is restricted in comparison, the antehumerals are much shorter, the eyes are colored differently, to name a few. Of course, the genital ligula is somewhat different too, and the shape of the superior appendages are also different. This may sound like a lot, but in fact many it is still rather similar. In Phong Nha - Ke Bang the two species occur side by side. To the north apparently only C. pyriformis occurs and to the south C. mientrung. For details and additional information, please see the Zootaxa article.

Female of Coeliccia mientrung.

The male of C. mientrung, with three-colored eyes, short antehumerals and reduced yellow on the abdomen tip.

Its look-alike, C. pyriformis. Note the blue eyes of the mal, the banana-shaped antehumerals and the large yellow abdomen tip.

Just around the corner - Lao PDR

On February 21 I had to go to Luang Prabang in Lao PDR for a meeting. In between reading papers for the meeting I popped into the woods close to the hotel. It was smack in the dry season, but I managed to find two species that I had not seen before, not in Vietnam and not anywhere else. The first was pretty Coeliccia dydima. This species might be confused with the similar C. cyanomelas. C. dydima is a common species in Thailand and Lao PDR, but has not been found yet in Vietnam. And maybe that is because it does not occur there. But I will keep on looking. It was nice to get some experience with it in neighboring Lao. I saw at least 10.
The other species was Aciagrion pallidum. This species  has been reported also from Vietnam, although I have not been able to find it yet, so likely it is localized and/or rare in there. It appears to be a dry season species, when it hides in dry forest and waits for the rains. The rufous abdomen is a good character. I saw only the one male.
Lastly, I also saw few Coeliccia poungyi poungyi, always a nice species to bump into. Here are a few record shots.

Here is the male of Coeliccia dydima. Note the limited extent of the blue on the abdomen tip and the large anterior dorsal markings on the thorax (in comparison to C. cyanomelas)

Here is the female. The pattern on S9 is a good feature.

And an immature male (note the color of the eyes). It is very yellow, not blue, and the dorsal markings on the form a pair of somewhat immature C. onoi like spots, not yet separated into two sets of two (meaning 4 separated spots in total). 

How about this? Beautiful, but inconspicuous, male Aciagrion pallidum.

Finally, Coeliccia poungyi poungyi, a female. Note the solid yellow abdomen tip.

And the exquisite male!

Calicnemia akahara - New to science!

Yesterday was a happy day with the publication of an article on Zootaxa by Phan, Karube and myself on the Calicnemia of Vietnam. It introduced a new species that is in outward appearance very similar to C. miles, but it misses the black abdomen tip of that species. It also has a very different genital ligula, placing it in group 1 (thin flagella), not in group 2 (as C. miles). So, if you are unsure, get out your magnifying glass! Luckily the abdomen tip is a great help and C. miles is restricted to northern Vietnam, with C. akahara, for that is what the new species is called, occurs in central Vietnam. Here are some photos from various encounters with the species last year, between late April and early August.

Calicnemia akahara, male, from Quang Binh Province. Note the completely red abdomen. 

Calicnemia akahara in copula, the female similar to C. miles, but withers dark dorsum to S8-10, but otherwise mostly orangy brown abdomen. This pair from Quang Tri Province.

An aged male in early August from Bach Ma National Park

Coeliccia hayashii - a wonderful species from Gia Lai province

Summer of 2016 I was able to connect with a probably very rare Coeliccia in Gia Lai Province that had been first found there by Toan in an earlier survey. It occurs in a very specific habitat, under an overhang with seeping water next to a waterfall. Indeed, the few square meters were we have found it are until now the only known location. The female is as yet unknown, but I have seen up to 4 males at a time. It is a strikingly beautiful species, like many others, but it has a peculiar thorax pattern with a large pruinose area on the flanks. If we do not count Indocnemis ambigua also as a Coeliccia species, there are now 4 species known from Vietnam with more or less extensive pruinosity on the thorax or prothorax. These are the two "montana" like species currently being described, and the two species published in the paper in which the present species was coined: "Description of two new species of Coeliccia from Vietnam (Odonata: Platycnemididae)." (Phan & Kompier, 2016). These are the smaller C. mattii and the rare and beautiful C. hayashii.

Male of the beautiful recently described and possibly very rare Coeliccia hayashii. Note the pruinose mark on the flanks and pruinose prothorax.

Xuan Son in late October

With apologies for the lack of postings in recent months. I have been busy writing papers.

Saturday October 21 I decided to go to Xuan Son. I have had little time recently, but now is the time the Planaeschna fly there. In fact this was the only weekend available to go, so although the weather was not very promising, I went anyway. For three years I have been catching a small pale-faced Planaescha female, but never a male. I was getting a little desperate, as this was the last chance I had.

The weather was a little better than expected and quite soon I caught another female. Then several hours nothing, but fly by's of the large Planaeschna spec. nov. female and of female P. guentherpetersi. I did in the meantime tun into something unexpected: a male Coeliccia chromothorax. The 8th species of this genus along this 1.5 km stream. No idea how it got there. It is a striking species and I had never seen it on a large number of previous visits. Strange.

I also found a female Cryptophaea vietnamensis. In itself that is not strange, but it was covered in algae. I remember a discussion on this on the Facebook page on neotropical dragonflies. I do not remember ever having seen it in Vietnam, but apparently it does happen here too.

And then I caught a male "large" Planaeschna spec. nov. and shortly after a much smaller one: the pale-faced male! I now have the males of all four species of Planaeschna occurring on this particular stream, 3 of them new to science.

Female Cryptophaea vietnamensis. Note the algae on the wings and abdominal tip!

Male Coeliccia chromothorax. Exciting find!

And there it is: Male pale-faced Planaeschna spec. nov. at last!

Appendages very different from P. guentherpetersi

And its pale face

Coeliccia species from the south*

*Adjusted on January 20, 2017. Paper was published on C. mattii so I added its name here.

Just a few weeks ago Rory Dow published Coeliccia suoitia from the Da Lat area. I revisited the location where I had observed them in December last year and this time (April 16) found the undescribed female and a single male. Finding the female proved that the female I had included in my December post was not the female of C. suoitia at all. I deleted the photo from the post, in case you did not notice. The real female has similar colours and pattern to the male and has two lateral horns to the prothorax. This is very interesting and supports Rory's assumption that this species is not a regular Coeliccia at all.

Female Coeliccia suoitia

At the same location and same date I also caught a single male and observed another of a different species and it is likely that the female I photographed in December concerned this species. It is mostly yellow-and-black, and it has been suggested it is a form of Coeliccia montana. I doubt that very much. It is larger and has a different thorax pattern. It shares pruinosity on the prothorax, but in addition also has a pruinose spot on the mesepimeron. And it has paler and differently shaped appendages, with less yellow on S9-10. I was informed by Wen-Chi Yeh that he has a similar specimen from the general Da Lat area, which shares all these peculiarities. For the moment this remains a Coeliccia sp. novum, to be described when we can bring the various materials from this area together in a paper.

Coeliccia sp. novum, note pale appendages and lack of yellowish on S9

C. montana-like pruinose prothorax, but note pruinose spot on mesepimeron and yellow, not whitish coxae.

At a different location at the bottom of a very wet small valley in undisturbed forest a smallish Coeliccia caught my eye on April 18. It seemed to have a pale blue thorax, like Coeliccia poungyi, but upon close inspection it turned out that it had a largely pruinose thorax, so it did not have real blue, but the underlying colour was black. Non-pruinose parts were yellow. It was considerably smaller than the aforementioned species and clearly undescribed. But it turns out that Wen-Chi Yeh also collected it around Da Lat and specimens from Rory and Matti Hamalainen are stored at Naturalis, Leiden. This species was described in 2016 by Toan and me as C. mattii. The female is a lot like the female of the aforementioned species and also like that of Coeliccia montana, but smaller.

The other Coeliccia mattii male with pruinose thorax and prothorax and yellowish appendages

Two males and a female of Coeliccia mattii (top three) and Coeliccia sp. novum 1 (bottom), showing big difference in size.

The last Coeliccia I found new on my recent trip to Phu Quoc (on April 12) was Coeliccia yamasakii, a specialty of Phu Quoc (as far as Vietnam is concerned). I found only a single male and 3 females at a single location. Although it should be more easy to find, it was in fact very hard to find and I guess that has to do with the extreme drought. But I was a happy chappy.

Coeliccia yamasakii male, recognizable by the small greenish yellow thorax spots and all dark abdomen with only the appendages paler. This is an adult, the subadults males have more extensive pale areas on the thorax and abdominal tip. 

The female of Coeliccia yamasakii, relatively blueish.

Coeliccia information and a new Coeliccia from Da Lat*

*Adjusted on April 15, 2016, after publication of this species in Zootaxa by Rory Dow as C. suoitia.

A few days back Philip Steinhoff sent me the links to the very interesting article he just published together with Gabriele Uhl on "Taxonomy and nomenclature of some mainland SE-Asian Coeliccia species (Odonata, Platycnemididae) using micro-CT analysis". It is worth the read, not only because of the interesting technique used to make visible the genital ligulae in old museum specimens, but also because it sorts out the names of some of the commoner Coeliccia species from Vietnam, by making clear the synonymy. For my blog this means that I have to change C. acco into C. pyriformis, I already used C. scutellum and C. cyanomelas (not C. tomokunii nor C. onoi).

Please use the below information if you want to access the paper. Do not forget to read on below the message that I copy from an email by Philip.

You can either get it straight on the Zootaxa homepage: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2015/f/zt04059p276.pdf
There, you can also get the 3D PDFs, which are published as supplement: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/content.html

Or you can get it from Philip's RG page:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287798126_Taxonomy_and_nomenclature_of_some_mainland_SE-Asian_Coeliccia_species_Odonata_Platycnemididae_using_micro-CT_analysis

While on the subject of Coeliccia, yesterday I was birding in Ta Nung Valley in Da Lat and noticed an interesting Coeliccia. It had white superior appendages and blackish inferiors, which were also clearly longer. Otherwise it had a largely blackish abdomen, with minor markings on S10 or in some individuals also S9. The thorax had a yellow antehumeral stripe on black dorsum. It was clearly an unknown species (to me). Subsequently Rory informed me this is likely a species recently described and soon to be published. So no work to do for me, but a nice find. Below a few shots of specimens in hand and in the field.

The cool Coeliccia suoitia from Da Lat. This seems the mature type, of which I saw four.

Thorax in somewhat dorsal view. Note the white horns on the prothorax.

White superiors and longer dark-grey inferiors. In another individual the spots on S9 were absent and those on S10 more bluish and smaller

In lateral view some bluish on inferiors and lower part of superiors dark grey.

Another male out and about

Coeliccia sp. - an intriguing species from central Vietnam*

*This posting was originally on C. montana, but it is now clear, after studying of the type material, that this species has been misidentified by Asahina. It is in fact an undescribed species and will shortly be published.

The last weekend of September I was hunting for dragons along the streams of Quang Nam Province near Bhalee village. I found a handful of pretty, smallish Coeliccia that I did not see before. Superficially they are similar to the even smaller undescribed species occurring in Cuc Phuong National Park and Huu Lien Nature Reserve, especially the males. The males have a black dorsum to the thorax, with two yellow spots at the proximal end, although larger and more elongated than in the C. sp. nov. They also have a black line along the metapleural suture absent in that species. Another difference is the abdominal pattern, which has much clearer rings. And very interestingly, they have a pruinose prothorax. I know only of C. ambigua as having pruinosity, but that also covers most of the thorax. It looks rather similar to the Indian C. schmidti Asahina, 1984, but that species misses the pruinosity on the prothorax, amongst other minor differences, and has a very different female, with bright yellow prothorax and broad antehumeral stripes. The female of the present species has a very distinctive prothorax with horns on the posterior lobe, reminiscent of the Indian C. vacca Laidlawi, 1932. It is different from the C. sp. nov. also by its thorax pattern, which has a thin antehumeral stripe, broader at the proximal end. Sadly, I let it get away (good for her) so do not have a close-up of the exact configuration.

I identified the species after consultation with Philip Steinhoff and Do Manh Cuong as C. montana Fraser, 1933. Although in their redescription of 2013 they did not mention the pruinosity and although the specimen they illustrated had "paddle sticks", meaning that the yellow spots on the thorax are elongated at the distal end into a thin antehumeral line, penile organ and appendages are a close match. Philip mentioned that specimens he considered C. montana from Da Nang also missed the paddles and that a female from the same location as those males also had the distinctive horns. What is more, on photos of his preserved specimen from the redescription pruinosity is visible on the prothorax (considered dust at the time). It therefore seems reasonable to assume the northern specimens of C. montana miss the paddle sticks of their southerly brothers. Remains the original description by Fraser, which mentions pale blue rather than yellow for both the lateral sides of the thorax as for the antehumeral stripe, although facial markings are yellow. It is possible that the change in colour is due to postmortem change, or due to preservation. Fraser also describes the abdominal tip (S9-10) as blue dorsally and laterally, but black ventrally, for adult, the blue replaced by yellow in immatures. The description also does not mention the pruinosity on the prothorax. Fraser's specimen is from Laos, whereas the redescription of the species by Asahina (1969) from southern Vietnam describes the pattern on the thorax as yellow and the abdominal tip as yellow all around. Nevertheless Asahina concludes his specimen agrees "rather well" with the type specimen in the British Museum of Natural History. Given how close many species resemble others, "rather well" seems not so convincing, especially given the differences in color and patterning. If Asahina's species is not C. montana, then the species redescribed by Steinhoff & Do also is not C. montana. In identifying my specimens as C. montana I therefore mean C. montana sensu Steinhoff & Do. Philip is trying to inspect the type in the BMNH, which may help to set the record straight.

*It is now sufficiently clear that "southern" and "northern" montana in fact are two different species and neither is C. montana. Both are currently being described.

Male Coeliccia montana. Note the darkish abdomen, pruinose prothorax, yellow dorsal spots on the thorax.

The female in hand. If you look carefully, you can see the distinctive horns on the prothorax posterior lobe

Finally Matticnemis doi

In 2012 Matti Hamalainen published Platycnemis doi as a new species from Huu Lien Nature Reserve. In 2013 K-D Dijkstra, on the basis of both molecular and morphological evidence, moved the species to a new genus, Matticnemis. Matticnemis doi is the sole species in this genus. Obviously Matticnemis takes it name from Matti. The "doi" species name honors Do Manh Cuong.

I had been frustrated quite a bit that over the many visits a did to Huu Lien I had failed to connect with the species and this year around the end of June I spent several boiling hot days looking for it (Matti had collected the species on June 22). Huu Lien is still illegally logged and the area where the species occurs is opening up, which causes the forest to dry. Only very small sections of the streams are still covered by forest. Although I knew the exact place where Matti and Cuong had seen the species, it could not be found and I feared it had already gone extinct.

But today I went to Huu Lien to look for the possible Planaeschna species novum there and to my not small surprise I found two males close to the waterfall, perched on twigs on the forest floor along puddles from where the stream had resided. I was very happy. Of course I had not expected it in October, but apparently it has a long flight season. To my even larger surprise I later in the day found another 4 males and 2 females at the original location at the other side of the hills between the village and the waterfall. This means the species is in less immediate danger, as it occurs in several places, although these are both under a lot of pressure.

The first male Matticnemis doi close to the waterfall. A highly inconspicuous species, due to its dark colors. It is about the same size at Copera marginipes and C. vittata.

Another male, this one at the type location

The female has mostly the same pattern, but misses the swollen tibia of the last two pairs of legs. 

An additional Coeliccia species from Sa Pa*

*This entry was adjusted on January 2, 2020. Coeliccia mingxiensis is clearly a synonym of C. cyanomelas, as was shown well in a recent paper by Yu et al. (2019) in IJO. I have therefore adjusted the text accordingly.

I am running very much behind with my discoveries of this spring. On May 18 I was checking some small streams in the Love Waterfall area above Sa Pa and one of the species I hoped for was Coeliccia hoanglienensis, described in 2007 by Cuong from the same area. For Vietnam this is still the only location and I do not think it had been recorded after Cuong's record of 2005 of 2 males. But then again, who is looking. By now it has also been recorded from Lao DPR by Yokoi, so it may be more widespread, if thin on the ground. It is a lovely species. I saw just one male over a tiny stream, where it was perched on some grasses.

Another interesting Coeliccia that we now know to be more widespread is Coeliccia mingxiensis [these are nothing but immature C. cyanomelas, it is pretty disturbing I had missed that point]. I already mentioned seeing it in Xuan Son in April, but early May I also encountered several males and females on mount Mau Son in Lang Son Province. This too is clearly more widespread, but it also seems to fly only in spring.

With C. hoanglienensis I know have 14 species of Coeliccia in Vietnam. There are several known that I have not seen, like C. doisuthepensis and C. yamasakii, just to indicate the wonderful variety of this genus.

The dark male of Coeliccia hoanglienensis, with blue flanks and mint-green dorsal stripes. Note that it does not have a tail-light.

Close-up of the dorsal pattern of the thorax

Immature Coeliccia cyanomelas female at Mau Son mountain on May 3. Note the grey-and-brown eyes and the distinct bands on the last segments.

The male at the same location

Coeliccia mingxiensis - junior synonym of C. cyanomelas*

*This entry was adjusted on January 2, 2020 after Yu et al. (2019) published an article in IJO making it abundantly clear that C. mingxiensis is just a synonym of C. cyanomelas. It looks different, because these are immature insects.

Coeliccia mingxiensis was found in 2009 by Do Manh Cuong in Tam Dao near the Belvedere Resort. That was the first record for Vietnam after its description in 2006 from Fujian, China. Last year I also found it in Tay Thien, in the same mountain range, which I considered good fortune, as the stream near Belvedere Resort is under a lot of pressure. But even after many visits I had never seen it at Xuan Son. That is, until last Saturday, when unexpectedly I ran into a single male of this spring species. The same stretch of forest holds also C. scutellum, C. cyanomelas, C. uenoi (well, actually, that is a little further away), C. poungyi, C. sasamotoi and C. pyriformis. Quite amazing! Apparently this beautiful species is more widespread. [It is in fact widespread, because these are simply immatures of C. cyanomelas.]

Male Coeliccia cyanomelas, immature.

Close-up of the hooked dorsal stripes and orange lateral stripe.