Anotogaster sakaii*

*This entry has been modified after I received the article by Karube (2012) on Vietnamese Anotogaster, courtesy of Wen Chi Yeh. After careful consideration of all 5 (!) species recorded and illustrated for Vietnam in the article, I can conclude my specimen is A. sakaii, a species recorded from Tam Dao to Sapa. The only anomaly is that it was recorded around 1000m asl in his specimens. The most important characteristics, apart from the measurements (that are good for A. sakaii, A. gigantica and A. klossi (A. flaveola)) the shape of the appendages excludes A. gigantica, and the completely orange brown mandibles, without yellow base, exclude all but A. sakaii and the somewhat smaller A. chaoi. Measurements of note include the pterostigmata of close to 6mm in both HW and FW and abdomen length of 72mm. Furthermore, the head is very broad, with width of postclypeus : distance lower edge labrum and upper edge antefrons approximately 1.1.

On April 16 I was birding on the slopes of Phan Xi Pang mountain at approximately 2000m asl. We were in a little valley in open terrain, with marshy ground traversed by a few clear small streams. When checking one of the streams I noticed a huge dragonfly that was stuck in the grass, apparently freshly emerged. Its abdomen was bent sideways and it seemed not to be able to fly. In fact it missed the left hindwing.

It was immediately obvious that this was a Goldenring of some sort. Its massive size (97mm, HW 56mm) and the lack of anal triangle in the hindwing pointed me to Anotogaster. It is very similar to Anotogaster sieboldii, but there are some minor differences. Wilson (2005) already pointed out the occurrence of A. sieboldii in Guangxi Province in China and the differences between specimens there and the ones in Japan, but also why he considered them conspecific. My first impression of the appendages was that this also appeared to be A. sieboldii. However, Karube (2012) described 5 species for Vietnam, all also occurring in the Sapa region.

It is clear my specimen belongs to the sakaii-group of Anotogaster, if only based on the orange-brown mandibles, without yellow base. The other species in that group, A. chaoi, has slightly different measurements, notably HW and pterostigmata. It does have a brown antefrons, like my specimen, but I consider this caused by the general stage of the specimen, like other parts of its body that will still darken further.

Anotogaster sakaii, male, as I found it with damaged abdomen

The same insect, showing more obviously the yellow wing bases. 

Although clear yellow on postclypeus, the mandibles are orange-brown, without any yellow on the bases.

Hindwing showing the absence of the anal triangle, hence it is Anotogaster

Dorsal view of the appendages. The bent tips are curved upward and inward, maybe due to pressure from the ground upon which it rested. At the base, best visible in the top cercus in the photo a small but clear tooth.

Clearly visible here are the two ventral teeth (different from the lateral tooth in the previous picture), one pointed ventrally close to the base of the cerci and another at about one third, pointed lateral-ventrally inwards. This feature is shared by several species of Anotogaster, but not all. In A. gigantica, both teeth are obvious in lateral view. In most other species they are only both visible in dorso-lateral view.

View showing the ridges at the apical corners of the lower appendage, which becomes thicker apically.

Nihonogomphus schorri

On April 13 I was birding in Xuan Son National Park. Xuan Son is a dragonfly paradise, but it was still early in the season. When the sun came out for a bit in the late morning I noticed to my excitement several gomphids along the concrete road in the forest. I was able to first catch a female ovipositing on the wet concrete and later a male patrolling to same place. Several other males and females were observed (at least 10) and one male was photographed as it sat on a plant by the side of the main stream where a small stream runs into it, close to the first stone bridge.

Because of the thorax pattern of the males, with greenish-yellow humeral stripes, and the yellow-orange appendages, I thought these might be Amphigomphus nakamurai (see my blog entry on that species), but in hand the lower appendages of the male were clearly different. At home the general structure of the appendages pointed straight to Nihonogomphus, a genus with 19 species distributed in eastern Asia. The most recently described species is Nihonogomphus schorri, Do & Karube 2011. Luckily I had access to that paper, as the pattern (with broad lateral black stripe separating metepisternum from metepimeron) on the synthorax did not fit most species. Close inspection of distal segment of penile organ and of the appendages helped to clinch the ID. In fact Nihonogomphus schorri is until now only known from Huu Lien Nature Reserve in Lang Son Province, where it was collected in May and June (2009 and 2008 respectively). This is 160 km from Xuan Son National Park in Phu Tho Province as the crow flies.

Male Nihonogomphus schorri perched by stream

Different male N. schorri

Showing the greenish antehumeral stripes

The female N. schorri

Nihonogomphus schorri, female top and male bottom. The male is 60 mm.

Facial pattern of live female

Facial pattern of male after preservation

Characteristic penile organ of male, separated only one third of length of segment and with long flagellar processes

Male appendages in dorsal view

Male appendages in lateral view

Male appendages in ventral view

Female appendages in dorsal view

Female appendages in (almost) lateral view

Lateral view of male apparatus S1-2

17 April, QL 32 back from Sapa to Ba Vi, and Ba Vi on the 18th

On the 17th we drove back from Sapa along the QL 32, as we had originally planned as the route to use towards Sapa. It is a great drive, but long and although quiet (devoid of heavy traffic) and generally good pavement, it twists and turns, thus slowing progress. But the scenery is nice and the hills are strewn with streams. I could do only very few stops, but the few we did produced great species. One open stream in an area with degraded forest had at least 30 or so Archineura hetaerinoides, yes again, so maybe not so rare after all. The same stream also had a billion or so Zygonyx iris. Another stop produced a fresh Bayadera male, still to be identified. And yet another stop a Rhipidolestes owadai male and a beautiful male Calicnemia miles. Lastly, a small stream over rocks by the road had 15 or so fantastic Coeliccia chromothorax.

Ba Vi on the 18th was shrouded in mist, so species were hard to find. I only saw a single Coeliccia scutellum, a fresh male and a female Indocnemis orang, first of the season, and also the first 4 fresh Agriomorpha fusca, besides a few common dragonflies.

Fresh male Bayadera species, work to be done

Female Coeliccia chromothorax

And the magnificent male Coeliccia chromothorax

Not to be confused with C. chromothorax, immature male Indocnemis orang, also with yellow thorax

The very beautiful Calicnemis miles, male

Male Rhipidolestes owadai

Brilliant Archineura hetaerinoides, temporarily held captive, male

Sapa, 14-16 April

To continue the saga of Sapa, we arrived late on Sunday 13th after a grueling drive, persuaded by my Papago! to drive a different route, not as I planned along QL 32, but first along QL 70, where we eventually ran into a traffic jam and had to U-turn, drive back for an hour and then followed TL 151, equally disastrous, as it was no more than a off road dirt track ruined by working traffic for the highway being built. But we made it. In Sapa we noticed great dragonfly spots, but did not specifically explore them, as this was a birding trip. However, the swampy field along the trail to Love Waterfall was very productive and birding the lower areas of Phan Xi Pang mountain was also great, irrespective of the time of the year (early) although diversity was still low.

I will need some time to sort everything out, but this is the information I can share right now. Any suggestions on the IDs are very welcome. The streams were still mostly empty, but the pools and swampy fields had interesting species. Orthetrum glaucum, O. pruinosum, O. triangulare and O. sabina were to be expected, but O. internum was the commonest species by far. I had not seen it before in Vietnam. The presence of Anax nigrofasciatus was a nice surprise, with 2 males at the marsh of Love Waterfall and another somewhere over a pond. A freshly emerged, but somewhat damaged Anotogaster male was also a wonderful find on Phan Xi Pang. And Libellula melli was yet another species I had not expected. This cousin of the Eurasian L. depressa occurs in Southern China but to my knowledge is new for Vietnam.

Damselflies were also very interesting, although I encountered only a few. A Megalestes species was found emerging at various locations and once a mature female was seen, but escaped before it good be photographed. Common in a variety of habitats was a species that seems to be a Mesopodagrion species, and as it does not look like M. tibetanum, it could be M. yachowensis. To be continued. Another species seen only once is also an unknown, suggestions are welcome. This was a beautiful species similar in size to the Mesopodagrion and interacting with it in the forest. I am at a loss for now. And the last damsel found was Ceriagrion fallax. It was common at one particular stream near Sapa town.

Let's start with the completely unknown, suggestions welcome!

The same damsel, detail of thorax

The same damsel, lateral view of appendages

Anax nigrofasciatus, male

Ceriagrion fallax, male

Orthetrum internum, male

Megalestes spec, work in progress, female

Very cool Mesopodagrion species, male

Mesopodagrion species in tandem

Libellula melli, male, new for Vietnam

The unfortunate Anotogaster male, something went wrong during emergence

En route to Sapa, Xuan Son

*Update 24 December 2022: the Protosticta grandis of Xuan Son may be a different species from the known "grandis" types. It is certainly not P. grandis sensu Asahina.

Between April 12 and April 18 we travelled to Xuan Son, on to Sapa, back along route 32 to Ba Vi and finally home to Hanoi. As I was showing birding pal Hein around, it was a birding trip, but I did manage to keep an eye open for dragonflies. Luckily the weather was cloudy and misty a lot of the time, so I could reasonably well concentrate on the birds (great birds!), but nevertheless almost every day unexpected spring findings occurred. Over the next days there is a lot to research, I am afraid. I know that Vietnam is not very well researched, but this is ridiculous! And I need help, so if you have suggestions to the species in the photos, tell me! Otherwise, more will become clear, hopefully, in the next days.

Let's start in Xuan Son (April 12 and 13)
Over the two cloudy days we encountered 27 species. Big surprise was Archineura hetaerinoides, with at least 2 females and 4 males present. Mnais mneme was very common on little streams, with dozens of males and females around. On the same heavily vegetated small streams under forest cover (but also some mixed with abundant Euphaea masoni on the bigger streams) Euphaea guerini, another species I had not seen before. Protosticta grandis was another addition to the Xuan Son list. I encountered about 6. Both Coeliccia poungyi and C. sasamotoi were already around, the former with one individual, but the latter common. Best species, maybe, was a damsel not uncommon along the forest track close to the first stone bridge. I have as yet no idea what it was, but it was beautiful. I saw only males, 2 on the 12th and 4 on the 13th, perched on top of leaves close to the forest floor or up in bushes. And there was a common Gomphid of which I saw many males and a few females, a species of Nihonogomphus I identified as N. schorri, known only from Huu Lien. Last but not least, on both days I saw Philoganga vetusta, a male and a female.

Let's start with the unknown. Any ideas?

Archineura hetaerinoides, male

Ochre Titan revisited, Philoganga vetusta, female

Protosticta "grandis", immature male

Nihonogomphus schorri, great range extension

And Coeliccia poungyi, a crisp male

Tam Dao! Ochre Titan!*

*Adjusted after true identity of C. mortoni was established as C. haksik and again after it became clear that C. mingxiensis is just a synonym of C. cyanomelas (removed from this entry).

Today, April 9, I went to Tam Dao with my birding pal Hein. The birding was okay, but it was rather misty, so it could have been better. Halfway the afternoon it became better and we even had a little weak sun, so we went to the Belvedere Resort surroundings and ran into several very cool damselfly species along the trail. 3 of these I had not seen before. And two of these belonged to genera I had not seen before in Vietnam and one even to a family that was new to me! The adrenalin!

The prize of the day goes to the fresh male of the magnificently weird Philoganga vetusta, as large as it is weird really. A frightening damselfly, measuring 7.5 solid heavy-bodied centimeters. The other new species was Rhipidolestes owadai, of which I saw both male and female Coeliccia scutellum created some confusion, as the fresh males looked rather different from what I am used to. Finally, the fourth species was a fresh female Calicnemia mortoni.

This is exactly as Hein (thank you!) spotted it perched, immature male Philoganga vetusta

In hand. The colors are starting to show, but for the real thing, visit Sebastien's page.

Head in close-up.

And the very simple appendages in ventral view.

Male Rhipidolestes owadai. Note the spine on S9. A wonderful species.

The female is rather similar to the male, but less dark on the wingtips

Immature male Coeliccia scutellum. Much yellower on flanks, prothorax and abdomen.

C. scutellum close-up. See also dorsal pattern of head, almost absent in mature male

Female C. scutellum, likewise immature and with more extensive yellow on S9-10.

And finally, immature female Calicnemia haksik

5-6 April - Cuc Phuong National Park

I travelled this weekend to Cuc Phuong with my birding pal and great friend Hein from the Netherlands. For birds. But we did see a few dragonflies along the way, some of it interesting because they are first observations for the season for me and indicate the length of the flight season.

Saturday was not very interesting, as it was mostly cloudy, but we did see Anax guttatus, 1 male and Cratilla liniata, Copera ciliata, C. marginipes, Pantala flavescens, Paracercion calamarum. Sunday brought the following: Epophthalmia elegans (2), Pantala flavescens, Diplacodes trivialis, Orthetrum sabina, O. pruinosum, Paracercion calamorum, Copera marginipes, C. ciliata, Brachythemis contaminata, Trithemis aurora, Crocothemis servilia, Hydrobasileus croceus (6), Tramea virginia (1), Ictinogomphus pertinax (2), Rhyothemis variagata (3), Neurobasis chinensis.

Quite pleased with Tramea and Hydrobasileus!

Tramea virginia, female