Mature Rhinocypha chaoi and a female Macromia septima

July 12 I went to Mau Son in Lang Son Province, another long drive. And at Mau Son followed the grueling walk down to the stream in the valley, followed by the climb back up. It was warm and it was not pleasant. I also received several bee stings (thank you, bees).

But I found what I came for, Rhinocypha chaoi. One of the prettiest damsels I have seen (and I have seen many). In May I had an immature male, but really wanted to see the adult. In the end I saw 5 males and a female.

While searching for them I noticed a smallish Macromia that flew a few round over the stream and then went up into a tree, where it hung from a leaf. I could just catch it and I was thrilled to see it was M. urania. But then I noticed the face was reddish, and thus it was M. septima! Only the second time I see this species and the second female. The males must be out there!

Male Rhinocypha chaoi. This species is so beautiful, it is unreal.

In dorsal view the abdomen is particularly striking. When it flies about you see azure specks dance over the water surface.

The female up in a tree having a snack.

Female Macromia septima. Note the amber wing-patches and the antehumeral surrounded by red (see also below) 

Note the reddish lower half of the dorsal side of the thorax and the reddish face

Macromia number 9, M. katae

This January Natalia von Ellenrieder, Martin Hauser, Stephen Galmairi and Thai Pham published on article in Check List on field research carried out in Vietnam. Of course I carefully perused it and was astonished to read about a new record for Vietnam of Macromia katae not far from Hanoi. Both myself and Sebastien Delonglee set out to find it, but at my visit earlier this year it was probably far too early. But Sebastien was more successful towards the end of May or early June and finally I myself found time today to go to the location. It was mostly very cloudy, but I was lucky enough to almost immediately spot a Macromia cruising up and down and even more lucky to be able to net it for verification. Indeed, it was Macromia katae. Although sharing some characteristics with M. unca, like yellow antehumerals and an obvious spine on the dorsum of S10, it was immediately obvious from its largely blackish face that it was M. katae. Check of the hamule and genital lobe confirmed the ID. In Europe we are happy with one Macromia, in the US with a few, but Southeast Asia has an abundance. This is my ninth species for the north of Vietnam and they are all just simply fantastic.

M. katae is a rather rare species, virtue of the scarcity of its lowland habitat, as explained in the Check List article.

Macromia katae, a beautiful Macromia. Note the darkened wing bases.

The face is very dark, with small yellow markings on labrum, base of mandibles, and postclypeus.

The dorsal spine on S10 is very prominent

The epiproct is quite long, extending well beyond the superiors

Typical hamule and lobe. What I found striking is that the genital lobe is bicolored.

Two interesting discoveries at Xuan Son

On November 29, while looking for Aeshnids in Xuan Son, I ran into a few additional goodies. Not only was a male Merogomphus paviei still around, I was also very surprised to see several Macromia flying about over a sunny stream. Upon capture these were Macromia malleifera, which was amazing, given the fact that I had visited Xuan Son quite a few times since the last record . That was on July 4. Maybe these were a new generation?

The other record of note was a female Trithemis festiva. Now, T. festiva is a very common species, no doubt about that. But I had only had very few previous glimpses of females, irrespective of males being easily found. And I never had the chance to catch one or take pictures. So it was noteworthy to catch one finally. She was ovipositing and after I took some shots I released her to resume her business.

Magnificent Macromia malleifera, a late season flyer too.

The typical pale-yellow postclypeus of M. malleifera.

And this is her, the elusive female of Trithemis festiva

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

Macromia - a truly wonderful genus

Over the last three weeks I have been roaming around northern Vietnam. It was truly productive, but how to put all that information in postings? For instance, how about the 37 gomphidia species? Or the bundle of Chlorogomphids (even if the season is as good as over for those beautiful fellows).  Or Macromia, for that matter? Karube (2011) mentions 6 species of Macromia (M. pinratani vietnamica, M. moorei, M. septima, M. urania, M. clio and M. cupricincta). As a matter of fact, over these 3 weeks I saw all of these and two more (M. unca and M. malleifera). There are still more species in Vietnam and it is important to have a close look at any that fly past.

Last year I only saw M. pinratani vietnamica and to my shame I have to admit that I came to recognize a reddish face as the telltale sign of that species. Beware! This is not correct. It is absolutely necessary to check a set of characteristics, but most importantly the shape of the hamulus and genital lobe. The presence or absence of facial markings, general coloration and shape of appendages form a set of characters that will in identification.

For the first time I saw a male of Macromia unca. It was hunting several meters high over the edge of a stream in the late afternoon, but well before females normally appear. Although this species was only recently described by Keith Wilson and only found this spring for the first time in Vietnam by Sebastien, it is fair to say this is a very common species in the hills of northern Vietnam. After having found it in Xuan Son NP, I also encountered it low in Tam Dao NP, and at various locations in Bac Kan Province, Ha Giang Province and Cao Bang Province. Invariably it appears in the last moments before dusk, to oviposit in streams while flying hurriedly in erratic flight over the surface.

Female Macromia unca, with generally brownish wings and characteristic markings in yellow on S2-3, long antehumeral stripe, smoked yellow labium and yellow sides to the the antefrons paired with the yellow postclypeus.

This is the male of Macromia unca. It shares the characteristics of the female, but has hyaline wings. In addition is has superior appendages well short of the epiproct and a hamulus that forms an impressive hook.

Of the reddish faced types, after M. pinrantani vietnamica, which has a very small genital lobe and is common, even very common, in Tam Dao for instance, M. moorei is the commonest. It has a much larger genital lobe, a hooked hamulus falling short of the lobe, and generally more yellow on S2, although this is variable. Its patterning is otherwise rather similar to M. pinrantani vietnamica. This was the common species of Pia Oac Nature Reserve.

Female Macromia moorei, showing reddish face and large yellow ring on S2.

Male of M. moorei, showing the large posterior oriented genital lobe. Note also the dorsum of S10, without a clear spike. In this specimen the ring on S2 is interrupted, like in pinratani.

Another male M. moorei, with a complete yellow ring on S2 and similarly the impressive genital lobe.

The second "other" red-faced Macromia we encountered was the much smaller M. septima. I am looking forward to seeing the male. For now we had to content ourselves with the female, which we found on both 24 and 25 June close to the T-junction of QL279 and TL212 in northern Bac Kan Province on a shallow stream.

This reddish faced small species, with amber wing bases, has a reddish dorsum to the thorax with yellow antehumeral stripes just surpassing the middle 

The other smaller species, of which I had already encounted in Tam Dao National Park, but for which until now I had not seen the male, is Macromia urania. This species has a blackish face with a smudgy yellow postclypeus. It has an English name, club-tailed skimmer, because of the expanded posterior segments, but this is in fact not that obvious. We encountered the female also close to the QL279 and TL212 junction in Bac Kan Province. The male was at km 58 of the TL257, south of Bang Lung.

This is a truly magnificent smaller species. The appendages are extraordinary compared to all other males displayed here, rounded and flat, whereas the hamule has a wavy outline, a character shared with a few closely related species (like septima).

Another brightly colored and large species that already featured in these pages is Macromia clio. Here both male and female. This is apparently a species that prefers a variety of habitats, from larger streams to brooks. We found it the male on the same stream that also produced the male M. urania, M. cupricincta and M. unca, along the TL257 in Bac Kan Province. Females were near the aforementioned junction.

Like the female the male of Macromia clio has a bright yellow band across the postclypeus and the blackish center of the labium bordered by a large yellow fringe. 

The female is a fine brightly colored insect, sharing the aforementioned characteristics of the male, but also with a heavily marked abdomen.

We are reaching the end of this parade of Macromia species. M. malleifera already featured in these pages and I still have only seen it in Xuan Son. But the last addition to the Macromia list was another red-faced species: Macromia cupricincta. I expected it to be much brighter reddish-brown, as its name suggests and as its depiction on Karube (2011) shows. Apparently it is not always that bright.

The male of Macromia cupricincta. In fact you can see the brownish color without yellow markings of S8-10, but it is very dark. One could overlook this, also because of the reddish face, as M. pinratani. But note the extreme curve of the wing at the anal triangle, indicative of this species, and the spike on the dorsum of S10.

An eventful day at Tay Thien - Macromia urania and Macromia unca

To continue with the events of June 15 at Tay Thien, I saw a cool 3 species of Macromia. Macromia pinratani vietnamica is extremely common and normally it is also the only species that I see there. However, today I noticed in the lower part of the stream, on the way to the nunnery, where the water was running over cobblestones and grass, a Macromia flying about to oviposit. It was harassed by a male Sinorogomphus sachiyoae, but kept returning. I decided to try to catch it and was successful. Immediately after I had caught it a second female appeared, which I also caught, but after some photos released again. Because of the clear humeral stripe and facial bar, I thought these could be the females of Macromia clio, of which I found the male a few weeks back near Xuan Son. However, at home checking the pattern, that was clearly different. A little research at home pointed me in the right direction. When I verified the expansion of S7-9 the case was closed: Macromia urania! A species that has been recorded in Northern Vietnam before, and that was originally described from "Tonkin".

Female Macromia urania. Note large yellow marking on S2.

Different female in dorsal view. Note the small paired markings in the abdominal segments and the dark wing bases. The other specimen atypical in that respect.

Face of female Macromia urania

Thorax pattern of the same female

The labium, black, unlike M. clio

The leaf-like lobes on S8-9.

When I descended towards the end of the afternoon I wanted to get to another stream to check for evening flyers. I never made it, because when I crossed the lower part of the stream, I noticed 5-6 large Macromia flying rapidly and erratically over the water, sometimes dipping in it. They were robust and had brownish wings. It was real difficult to catch one to verify, but in hand it was easy. Macromia unca! Only recently discovered in Xuan Son, but swarming here in Tam Dao. Maybe it is not rare, just overlooked (which, given its crepuscular habits and fast flight is not too difficult to understand).

Another female Macromia unca!

The typical facial pattern

Macromia females - M. unca and M. moorei

As explained in the previous posting, to my shame I had called all red-brownish faced Macromia that I encountered M. pinratani vietnamica. So it came as quite a shock that when I caught a female heavily ringed with yellow on the abdomen and a brown face in Yen Bai and was a little worried about its identity, that checking the literature I found out this was M. moorei. I wonder how many I overlooked. I will quickly try to get a male in the pages too.

The other female I want to show here is Macromia unca. A week ago Sebastien Delonglee caught a female at dusk in Xuan Son that he identified as M. unca, a species described in 2004 by Keith Wilson for Southern China. What is interesting about this species that it apparently becomes active during dark periods of the day or at dusk. Sebastien gave me an assignment to go and find the male. Well, on Saturday, towards dusk, I caught a female Macromia with brownish smoked wings and the facial pattern of M. unca, but no male. When I went back on Sunday afternoon the species started swarming towards dusk. I saw at least 7 and caught 3 of them for checking, before I released them again. They were all females! They seemed to be dropping eggs, maybe they mate in the darkness of the forest.

Macromia unca, female. Note ochre labium and yellow postclypeus and sides of frons.

The face in close-up

Scan in dorsal view of M. unca, note the brown wings. This is their natural state.

Thorax pattern of female M. unca.

And the female of Macromia moorei. Superficially like M. pinratani vietnamica, but note the complete yellow ring on S2.

The face in frontal view.

Macromia clio and Macromia malleifera

This weekend (May 31 and June 1) was a home coming for Macromia species. The obvious was Macromia moorei, which I had overlooked so far (to my shame). Another was Macromia unca, recently found by Sebastien at Xuan Son. The other two were Macromia clio and Macromia malleifera. Both are widely spread in Southern China, so it is not surprising they occur in Vietnam. M. clio was already recorded by Karube.

I found several Macromia clio cruising over the slow river outside Xuan Son park, after the turn off from QL 32. It is easily recognized by the pattern of yellow on for instance S2, the yellow labium with blackish center and so on. It also has obvious humeral stripes and a yellow stripe across the face (on the postclypeus). Macromia malleifera caused more headache, but has been adequately described by Lieftinck. It has typical hamulus and lobe, whitish stripe across the face, crossed triangles in the forewing, ridge on dorsum of S10 with small protuberances next to it, and interestingly, it misses the keels to the tibia of its middle legs. It is a large species. I had seen it already several times at Xuan Son, but failed to catch it. Sebastien also saw it recently (see his blog).

Macromia clio, male, a splendid insect. Note yellow markings on face (labium) and on venter of S3.

Scan of male M. clio, note humeral stripes

Labium in ventral view, broadly edged in yellow

Hamulus and lobe of M. clio

Dorsal view of appendages of M. clio, rather blunt with lateral tooth in middle 

Same in lateral view

Another brilliant (and large, 8 cm) insect, Macromia malleifera

Note orange labium, black labrum, brown anteclypeus and cream postclypeus, ochre corners to frons

In dorsal view, note the crossed triangle and sub triangle in front wing

Now this is supercool. Note the yellowish keel on the front leg tibia and the absence of a keel on the middle leg tibia

Here again the short keel on the front leg tibia and the massive keel on the tibia of the hind leg

The typical lobe and hamule of M. malleifera

Appendages in dorsal view, note the central ridge on S10 and the two small humps at its starting point

Similar, in side view