Sa Pa in autumn

This weekend I went to Sa Pa, because the weather forecast said the weather was going to be beautiful and because in Hanoi it was going to be mediocre. Well, Sunday it rained in Sa Pa and Hanoi was sunny. But Saturday was bright indeed. Even so, there were only 4 species still around. Anax nigrofasciatus and Ceriagrion fallax were two of these. Really common still was Sympetrum hypomelas. And Palpopleura sexmaculata was also still about. One mature male, but also a freshly emerged female, which was a bit of a surprise.

Birds were actually much more interesting. I ran into a Wood Snipe at a swampy woodland at 2000m along a small stream, which was a lifer for me and a really rare and difficult bird. That surely made up for the weather and the lack of dragons. The "tricolor" subspecies of Long-tailed Shrike was another surprise.

The male of Sympetrum hypomelas is a stunning creature.

Yet another one

When in the morning of Sunday the sun was still out, I climbed a mountain side without my camera and bumped into this female. So I took a photo with my telephone. Not too bad. I did not know the females turned this red late in the season, but they do. The red is restricted to the dorsal area between the lateral stripes on the abdomen.

Male Palpopleura sexmaculata. This species is awkward to take pictures of in close-up, because they keep their bodies at an angle and also drop their wings forward. This is not too bad.

A third Sympetrum species for Vietnam - Sympetrum eroticum ardens

On June 23 I visited the Sa Pa area again, in the hope of finding Somatochlora dido. Alas, it was (yet again) not to be. But I did run into a very attractive Sympetrum species at several locations, both at the Love Waterfall and just below Sa Pa along a stream. It was immediately obvious from the lack of clear yellow tones that this was not Sympetrum hypomelas. The face with the "sunglasses" and the hooked appendages also were not in line with either S. hypomelas or S. speciosum. In fact these fitted very well S. eroticum, a species I know from Japan. But that does not have such extensive black markings on the abdomen. Looking into it later, I found that this characteristic fits very well the other subspecies of S. eroticum, S. e. ardens, which has also been recorded from the south of China, for instance from Yunnan and Guangxi, just around the corner, so to speak. Nevertheless, to my knowledge it had not been recorded from Vietnam previously.

The first male Sympetrum eroticum ardens, perched in the little swamp of the Love Waterfall area. Note the hooked appendages and black spots on the abdomen.

A second male at the same area, still younger and thus more yellow on the thorax

The "monkey face" with the distinctive spectacles.

Yet another male, this one caught about 6km from Sa Pa in the direction of Lao Cai along a stream.

Leftovers from Pia Oac

A bit of a misnomer, leftovers, for these wonderful species that I also took pictures of on October 4.

This is Ischnura carpentieri in copula, the male easy to recognize (as member of rufostigma group at least), the female notoriously difficult. A common species in the mountains.

Sympetrum hypomelas does not only occur in Sapa, but also in the lower mountains of northern Vietnam, like here at Pia Oac at approximately 1000m.

This is a male Macromia moorei, still surprisingly common this time of the year at Pia Oac. Note the almost complete band on S2

The same male in dorsal view and under flash

And in hand, showing the obvious lobe that distinguishes it from M. pinrantani vietnamica

Sympetrum

On June 24 and 29, and again on July 9 I saw several Sympetrum dragonflies in Pia Oac, Cao Bang Province, both immatures and adults. Only one species had been recorded in Vietnam, S. hypomelas (see blog Sebastien). I presumed it was this species, although it had more extensive yellow markings in the wing and was much redder. However, on July 2 in Sa Pa I saw very fresh S. hypomelas and luckily also a mature male. It is actually rather different. For instance it displays almost no yellow in the wing. Later that afternoon in a different location, I found 4-5 males of Sympetrum of the same type I had seen in Pia Oac: all red and with more yellow in the wing. They also behaved differently. While the earlier male hypomelas had been sitting on leaves at a favorable spot, these males all hovered and patrolled over a small pond. Under the microscope many differences are apparent. Not only the appendages, the hamulus and the penis are different, but also as indicated the wing pattern, markings on thorax and abdomen and the frons is adorned by a black mustache absent in hypomelas. Once you know it, it is easy, as often. Now I also know that some internet photos of hypomelas that are all red, are not hypomelas at all. This species is Sympetrum speciosum, known from China, but new to Vietnam. It would be, based on the reduced yellow in the wing, S. speciosum taiwanum, but Wilson already indicated that these subspecies should be lumped and as you can see on the photos, the amount of yellow in the wing is variable. Nevertheless, it seems a higher altitude species here, both at the summit of Pia Oac and here above Sa Pa town at around 1700m asl.

Adult male Sympetrum hypomelas, showing clear contrast between yellow and red parts of thorax

Fully mature male Sympetrum speciosum, complete lack of yellow

S. hypomelas, note the thick black line along the lateral carina of the abdomen and the clear yellow tones

S. speciosum, note the lack of yellow on the body and the reduced amount of black on the abdomen, but the large amber basal patch and the reddish veins.

Photo of both species, speciosum above and hypomelas below. Note the reduced amount of yellow  in the wing of hypomelas and the reddish veins in the basal half of the wings of speciosum.

This is a possible pitfall. Immature male speciosum, but with large amounts of amber in the wing

Appendages of S. hypomelas in dorsal view. Note differences in color, amount of black and shape.

The same for Sympetrum speciosum.

Appendages of Sympetrum hypomelas in lateral view

The same for Sympetrum speciosum

The differences in hamule and genital lobe. Here the pointed hamule of S. hypomelas, with minor hook

More rounded hamule of S. speciosum, with large hook.

Frons of S. hypomelas in dorsal view, no mustache

The same for S. speciosum, frons bordered by black line

Face of S. hypomelas, with extensive yellow on postclypeus and labrum.

Bright red face of S. speciosum.