Mnais mneme and other Xuan Son goodies

Yes, we are in business! The first real sunny day of the spring in North Vietnam and I found myself in Xuan Son, for birds, but it was rather quiet, but I had good views of a singing Spotted Wren Babbler. But the sun also brought out quite a few dragons. Interestingly, several species were already in copula or ovipositing, so had been around for some time: Orthetrum pruinosum, Copera marginipes, Trithemis festiva, Pantala flavescens, not the rarest of species, but still.

The best species of the day was stunning Mnais mneme. I saw three males, all orange-winged. One I caught and it was very large, abdomen 49 mm, larger than either M. mneme or M. andersoni as described in Asahina's 1975 papers. The appendages pointed to M. andersoni, but the distal segment of the penile organ, as he calls it, is only very shallowly v-shaped, much like his Laos type. Based on this, and helped by the size, I identified it as M. mneme.

Mnais mneme, male orange-winged form

Appendages in ventral view. Tip of inferiors with hook and inferiors well short of superior appendages.

But see the almost t-shape of the distal segment

Another surprise was Ceriagrion azureum, two males in a rice field of all places. I had only seen this beautiful species in Ba Be National Park before. As they were a bit far away and I did not bring the long lens, a record shot only.

Ceriagrion azureum, beautiful species, bad photo

Heliocypha perforata was already common, with many males displaying. Here an immature male and a female.

Heliocypha perforata, female

And H. perforata, immature male, just starting to turn blue on the abdomen

Yet another species already common was Euphaea masoni. Many males were flitting about. Here an almost mature male and a female.

Is she crying, or just shy? Euphaea masoni, female

E. masoni, immature male

Vestalis gracilis was very common in some places, whereas in autumn it is not so easy to find in Xuan Son. I was a bit surprised how common it was already.

Two males Vestalis gracilis, side by side

And the last species I have photos of, Cratilla lineata. This species was also already ovipositing. Here a male.

Cratilla lineata, male

As it is interesting to know what the temporal distribution is of species, here the other species seen today:

Neurobasis chinensis, Aristocypha fenestrella, Agriocnemis femina, Paracercion calamorum, Coeliccia scutellum, Copera marginipes, C. ciliata, Prodasineura autumnalis, Pantala flavescens, Trithemis festiva, Orthetrum pruinosum, O. glaucum, O. triangulare, Brachythemis contaminata.

A total of 20 species, yes, we are in business!

Xuan Son outing, other records

The visit to Xuan Son was intended to search for some late season stream species. As we approached the National Park from the east and not from the north, we ended up at the wrong entrance. Wrong, because we could not find some essential streams in primary forest. Nevertheless we had quite a good time, but convinced we were in the wrong place we decided to try to approach from a different direction. Quite a challenge without a detailed map of the area and none of the villages mentioned. But we were successful in that we made it late in the afternoon to Lap Village. That was a fantastic place. The trial and error driving around route 32 brought us the already mentioned Lamelligomphus sp. and a Lesser Emperor, Anax parthenope junius. This is a species recorded as a vagrant from Vietnam, but it is likely it is more common. We saw a male over a pond by the road side, but it did not allow pictures. However, its small size, brownish abdomen with extensive light markings pointed away from A. guttatus and to this species. I guess we need a little more definite proof next time. In Lap Village one of the last dragonflies of the day was a smashing Matrona taoi, described from Xuan Son only two years ago. And because we were so late we sat a bit on a bridge at dusk before returning to Hanoi (a three and a half hour drive after all), when all of a sudden in the last light of the day the already mentioned Boyeria karubei started swarming. Not at all a bad October day, with 35 Odonate species. Besides the aforementioned goodies Onychothemis testacea also still put in an appearance. Below some of the stream damsels for which this is such a good area.

Matrona basilaris, male. We only saw one, but it is still early in the season

There were already quite a few Vestalis gracilis about, here a male

And here a teneral male. We saw several freshly emerged.

Copula of Vestalis gracilis

One of the targets: Matrona taoi, male, in all its splendor

Pretty Neurobasis chinensis, here the male, was common

Neurobasis chinensis, female

Euphaea decorata, female

Euphaea masoni, couple side by side

Heliocypha perforata, male. One of at least 5 species occurring in the area, of which we saw also R. biforata and Aristocypha fenestrella.

Vestalis gracilis

There are quite a few species of Calopterygidae damsels in Vietnam. One of the commoner ones is Vestalis gracilis, which I encountered regularly around Ba Be National Park (in July), where it could be found along all sorts of moderately swift streams. The only other place where I have seen it is in Cuc Phuong National Park (in August), where I checked many streams, but only saw one female and one male in a small stream passing under the road in the middle of the park. Fresh individuals are bright green on the thorax and abdomen, but become brown and grey with aging.

Vestalis gracilis, female, from Cuc Phuong

Vestalis gracilis, male, from Cuc Phuong

Appendages in close-up of above male

Older male from Ba Be

Another older male from Ba Be

And another younger male from Ba Be