Macromia pinratani vietnamica Asahina, 1996

 

Macromia pinratani Asahina (1983) has been described from Thailand. Macromia pinratani vietnamica is a northern Vietnam subspecies.

A resting male

Macromia pinratani is a large-sized dragonfly, with a reddish-brown synthorax marked on sides with 2 wide, shiny green metallic stripes enclosing a pale yellowish area. The abdomen is black, ringed and spotted with pale yellow and brown (with an obvious yellow ring on S7 in both sexes).

Wings hyaline, more or less enfumed with yellow-brown in aged specimens.

 

Male

Male

  Dorsal view

Caudal appendages black and are of typical Macromia type: superiors with a small spine on the middle of the outer side; inferior appendage triangular, narrow.
Segment 10 unmarked, strongly keeled above with an upstanding dorsal process.

Lateral view

Female (photo above) closely resembles the male save for sexual characters ; differs by its more robust build, the more extensive and conspicuous yellow markings on abdomen.

Wings, male : anal loop of hind wing well defined, rounded, 
characteristic feature of Macromids (anal loop elongate in Cordulids).

Macromia pinratani vietnamica differs from the nominotypical subspecies as follows (from Asahina, in « Records of the Northern Vietnamese Odonata taken by the expedition members from the National Science Museum, Tokyo, 1996. Part III : Aeschnidae, Corduliidae, Libellulidae”) :

-larger in size (hindwings lenght)

-metallic greenish ground colour of the body deeper. The yellowish or brownish stripes of the abdominal segments are much more developed than those of the nominotypical race described from Thailand. In particular, the yellow bands of the 2-7 abdominal segments are strongly developed in both sexes

-the upstanding dorsal process of the last abdominal segment in the male is very strong

-the genitalia hamulus of the male is well developed

M. pinratani is rarely stays far from its watery habitat and is to be found patrolling slowly along streams at a few feet from the water or flying rapidly along roads in forest.
The females are rarely seen, and appear to keep to jungle, except for brief intervals when they come to oviposit and then depart again, pairing taking place during these short visits to water.

M. pinratani is known from Thailand, Laos and northern Vietnam. In my area around Hanoi, it is a common sight along forested well-shaded rocky streams and brooks, in hill and montane regions, including disturbed forest. 　

Macromids are among the most elusive of all dragonflies. Nevertheless, M. pinratani is a conspicuous insect - the male at least - and one of the Anisoptera I encountered the most along sub-montane and montane forest streams. But I bumped only a few times into resting individuals...

 

Somatochlora dido Needham, 1930

Somatochlora dido, male, Sa Pa, Sept. 2013

I spotted this stunning species in mid-August 2012 and September 2013, at Sa Pa (Lao Cai Prov., northern Vietnam), within the Hoang Lien National Park boundaries, a bit below Tram Tôn Pass (Đèo Trạm Tôn), at ca 1900m a.s.l.

I had great fun taking some photos of males in fly

In October 1995, Syoziro Asahina also vouchered a male in the same area ("Deo Tram Ton"). It was the second record of this species after its original description in 1930 (type locality is Sichuan) !

I used a part of his description publish in « Records of the Northern Vietnamese Odonata taken by the expedition members from the National Science Museum, Tokyo, 1996. Part III : Aeschnidae, Corduliidae, Libellulidae” for writing this post.

The males were flying slowly, hovering a lot

Male, in hand

Thorax shining metallic green with broad yellowish bands on the sides.

Abdomen entirely metallic black, except some yellow markings on S2 and S3 as follows : S2 with a lateral yellow spot and a yellow edge along the posterior margin; two proximal spots laterally on S3.

Male, facial pattern

Male, tip of abdomen, dorsal and lateral views

Caudal appendages black, the superiors with apex recurved and pointed,  with two small tooth on the lateral sides. The inferiors more than ½ the length of the superior.

The female is almost silimar to male in colour and pattern

Female, facial pattern

Somatochlora dido has an extremely broad and fragmented distribution from northern Vietnam through southwestern and southern China (Guangdong, Guangxi and Sichuan) and Hainan. All confirmed records have been obtained from high altitude in remote locations. Only a few scattered locations are currently known, but the species is probably under-recorded.

Members of the genus, the largest in the Corduliidae, are predominantly Holarctic and they are found as far north as Odonata exist. When found in the subtropics these species has been usually found at high altitude in excess of 1000 m up to 2290 m (source : http://www.iucnredlist.org).

At Sa Pa, I found this species at an acidic wooded swamp in a small valley. 

Caliphaea thailandica Asahina, 1976

A rare and elusive Caloptera damselfly, inhabitant of shadowy streams in forested mountain slopes. Only males were observed.  

Caliphaea males can not be confidently identified without capture and close examination of the caudal appendages. Females are either hard or impossible to identify.

Synthorax metallic green with coppery reflections on dorsum and on sides. Metepimeron yellow with large metallic patch in the centre. 

Abdomen coppery metallic. In mature insects, the terminal three segments are covered with pruinescence.

Caudal appendages : 

Lateral view

The superiors are roughly of the same structure with those of the 4 other known Caliphaea species (angka, confusa, consimilis, nitens). Best key features are the inferior appendages that differs strikingly from those of the 4 congeneric species : quite straight in profile view, very simple, not broadened and without interior processes at the extremity.

  Dorsal view

C. thailandica is a poorly known and scarce species, recorded from a few locations in Thailand and only one in Vietnam (Mount Tam Dao).

At Tam Dao, I found this species along two narrow, shallow, rocky streamlets with dappled to dense shade, in undisturbed forest, at the altitude of ca 750m and 900m a.s.l., 5 km away from each other. Most of the specimens have been spotted perching on sunny spots on the leaves of overhanging vegetation.

The list of known Caliphaea species is as follows:

• C. confusa Hagen in Selys, 1859 (known from northeastern India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, southwestern China, northern Vietnam)

• C. consimilis McLachlan, 1894 (China : Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi) 

• C. nitens Navas, 1934 (China : Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangxi)
  

• C. thailandica Asahina, 1976 (Thailand, northern Vietnam) 

• C. angka Hamalainen, 2003 (northwestern Thailand : Doi Inthanon)

Ventral view of the caudal appendages of 5 Caliphaea species.

(Sketches of angka, confusa, consimilis and nitens from photos of Matti Hämäläinen).

From the structure of inferior appendages (in red) it is not difficult to

separate C. thailandica males from the other congeneric species.

Many thanks to Noppadon Makbun and Matti Hämäläinen for providing documents!

Gomphidia abbotti abbotti Williamson, 1907

A perching male, Cuc Phuong National Park

Gomphidia abbotti is a bulky gomphid I only spotted 3 times, in lowlands : an open, forest pond at Cuc Phuong National Park, an open stream at Huu Liên Nature Reserve and the sluggish part of a stream surrounded by rice fields - but with shrubby banks - at Hoa Binh Province.
I didn't get to see any females.

 male, Huu Liên Nature Reserve

Dorsum of synthorax with two oblique, inverted teardrop-shaped yellow spots that do not extending to the collar stripe.

Sides of synthorax deep black with two oblique yellow stripes. The area between these stripes (= metepisternum) is entirely black save for a small, isolated yellow superior spot.

Anal appendages: superiors longer than segment 10, compressed, of about even width to the apex which is squarish, separated in their entire length but converging at the apices; the inferior much shorter, a little sinuous and directed up as seen in profile.

S10 with a median dorsal spot.

Lateral view

Dorsal view

The almost black metepisternum and the characteristic two dorsal spots on the synthorax help to separate this species from other Gomphidia.

G. abbotti is known to occur in China (Guangxi, Hainan), Indonesia, Laos, Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 
It was recorded for the first time in Vietnam in 2010. Falls probably under the category of "not rare, just rarely seen"...

Devadatta ducatrix Lieftinck, 1969

A rocky, well-shaded streamlet, habitat of Devadatta ducatrix

Devadatta ducatrix was described by the Dutch entomologist Maurits Lieftinck (1904-1985) based from one male collected by the German entomologist, insect trader and explorer Hans Frushstorfer. The holotype is deposited in the National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France.

This species loves very dark places but sometimes I have been lucky enough to see it in bright sunshine, which reveal the brilliant blue-grey metallic body of the male. 

I have spotted Devadatta ducatrix in many occasion, in good or degraded forests, in lowlands or mountains, along small running waters on rocky slopes, under tree heavy cover, often in compagny of Coeliccia species, Protosticta satoi, Agriomorpha fusca, Cryptophaea vietnamensis...

It is a rather large-sized, stout bodied species.The male has pro- and synthorax dull metallic blue-grey, both more or less pruinescent laterally; abdomen wholly dark brown with sides of S1-2 slightly pruinescent. All wings dark tipped (in both sexes). 

I often saw the male resting with its wings half spread like a Lestes, showing the dark apices of all wings.

Close-up on wing apices.

I did manage to spot the female, but at few occasions. Unlike the male, she likes to hide away from the water, under the protection of the undergrowth, and only approach the water for mating and oviposition.

She has a brown-reddish body, white stripes on sides of synthorax and white spots along the abdomen. Both male and female show darkened wing apices, but only the female has whitish pterostigma.

A pair in tandem

Prior to copulation, male transfer sperm from the genital pore on abdominal segment 9 
to the accessory genitalia on segment 2

Then, mating begins...

This position during copulation, known as the "wheel formation" because the couple forms a closed circle with their joined bodies, is unique to the order Odonata.

This "wheel", though, looks more like a Valentine heart...

The female was observed ovipositing on fallen vegetation - aerial roots I think.

The male perched nearby guarding his mate while she deposits eggs, termed "non-contact guarding". Guarding prevents another male from inseminating the female.

This species is known predominantly from northern Vietnam, with some records in southern China (Guangxi) and Laos (Vang Vieng).
Around Hanoi, it is not an uncommon sight in the hilly and mountainous localities, along well-shaded rocky streams and brooks, through relatively untouched or degraded forest.

In central Vietnam occurs an another Devadatta species : D. cyanocephala Hämäläinen, Sasamota & Karube 2006, characterized by a conspicuous sky blue face.