Rhipidolestes owadai Asahina, 1997

Male (Hoa Binh Province, ca 500m a.s.l.)

Rhipidolestes owadai is a species I have seen on a very few occasions at Tam Dao and near Thuong Tiên Nature Reserve at Hoa Binh. But in June 2014, at the top of Mau Son mountain, I bumped into dozens of individuals during a one-day trip.

Male and female are easily identifiable by the black synthorax marked with two white-yellowish broad stripes on the sides (the upper one extending on prothorax), and by the frontal parts of the head (labrum, ante- and postclypeus) white.

Male (Tam Dao, Vinh Phuc Province, 900m a.s.l.)

Wings hyaline. Pterostigma greyish, contrasting with the wing apices darkened (male).

Caudal appendages - dorsal view

Female (Tam Dao)

Extremities of the wings of a female. Apices not darkened.

Rhipidolestes owadai is only known from a handful of submontane and montane sites in northern Vietnam (Mau Son mountain, Loc Binh in Lang Son Province, Mount Tam Dao in Vinh Phuc Province and Thuong Tiên Nature Reserve in Hoa Binh Province) and central Laos. The species is likely to also be found in adjacent parts of southern China (Guangxi).

R. owadai has been described based upon specimens collected at Tam Dao.