Flashback - trip to Cat Tien NP 6-9 February 2015

In early February we spent a few days in Cat Tien National Park. It was very dry. Not a drop of water in the forest - virtually. But the fishponds were still productive and the odd stream or trickle also provided some species, but everywhere in low numbers. Clearly middle of the dry season is not the best time for Odonata here. Consequently we did not find anything new for the park list. But some species were very present and one was Gynacantha basiguttata, of which we saw several along the road through the forest, now adults.

Another species that I had seen only once, and that previously eluded photographic capture, was Rhyothemis triangularis. I was able to take pictures of a freshly emerged specimen.

And lastly, one evening, as I was heading back to the lodge, I ran into a roost of Potamarcha congener. An exceptional spectacle!

Gynacantha basiguttata female, now fully mature. Note the dark smudges at the base of the wing along the subcosta.

The face of the same female

A little extra: male Agriocnemis nana. I saw only a few, but what a delight.

Roost of Potamarcha congener. How many in the photo? I count at least 50.

Fresh male Rhyothemis triangularis, the only one seen.

Potamarcha congener

One common dragonfly I have not yet discussed is Potamarcha congener. This is an interesting widespread species of which for once the females are very often encountered. This is because they have the habit of perching on wires in the open. Males you hardly ever see on wires. Come to think of it, I do not recall such instance, but that seems odd. Anyway, males you see at ponds, where they perch over the water on twigs, or nearby in fields on bushes. The male is a larger, paler version in some ways of Trithemis festiva, whereas the female has an interesting thoracic pattern of 4 pale lines. It also has the flanges on S8 of Orthetrum females. I have seen P. congener all over northern Vietnam and also in the Mekong Delta, although it is nowhere abundant.

Potamarcha congener, female, for once not perched on a wire (involuntarily)

Potamarcha congener, male

Another male, more pruinose on the abdomen