Monday, March 29, 2010

A Worn Dragonfly

I was observing odonates in a late afternoon and I bumped into this female Trithemis aurora...... I felt sad to see the pathetic condition of this female T. aurora, it looks like she is an old and worn lady....... it must be the aggressiveness of many males to make her like this........ Well, after a while I cheered up thinking that she would be contented as she has experienced the best part of her life!




Sunday, March 28, 2010

Larval Emergence - Pseudagrion rubriceps

I showed the grassy drain/streamlet in an earlier entry. The site is a good habitat for Pseudagrion rubriceps. I found hundreds and thousands of Pseudagrion rubriceps larvae in the grassy drain/streamlet. The larvae like to cling on the roots of the plants at the water edge. I managed to record the larva emergence of P. rubriceps..........


a matured larva of P. rubriceps


below is a series of three photos showing the larval emergence of female P. rubriceps:


Saturday, March 27, 2010

Good Spot for Zyxomma obtusum

I have been observing Zyxomma obtusum lately. The grassy streamlet/drain shown below is a good site for Z. obtusum. During day time, Z. obtusum is totally absent from the site. Starting at 6.30pm in the late afternoon, Z. obtusum shows up one by one..... by 7.00pm, I could see more than 30 individuals of Z. obtusum hanging arond the site! What a view! I was totally thrilled to see so many Z. obtusum non-stop patrolling the drain/streamlet...... it looks like they were having great party!





Below are two photos to show Z. obtusum on wings having good time at the above habitat.



Libellulidae - Larva

I caught this medium sized (body length >20 mm) libellulid larva from a grassy streamlet/drain with sandy and muddy bottom. I have seen Orthetrum testaceum, Orthetrum glaucum, Orthetrum luzonicum, Orthetrum sabina, Zyxomma obtusum, Brachydiplax chalybea, Neurothemis fluctuans, Trithemis festiva, Trithemis aurora and Tholymis tillarga hanging around the aquatic habitat. So, what is the species id for this larva? Well, I think it could be Zyxomma obtusum because it looks close to the larva drawing in the Pocket Book of the Dragonflies of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.




Something Precious.......

Lately, I spotted a rare dragonfly species - Phyllothemis sp. In the Pocket Book of Dragonflies of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (Orr 2005), the species status of Phyllothemis in Peninsular Malaysia remains unclear. Orr (2005) suspects the Phyllothemis species from Peninsular Malaysia is eltoni. In his pocket book, Orr (2005) narrated that only one specimen has been recorded for Peninsular Malaysia. Phyllothemis eltoni is distributed from Myanmar to Thailand. There is another species from Sumatra, Indonesia - P. raymondi. Both the Phyllothemis species look alike with only slight differences on facial marking and anal appendages. With the Phyllothemis sp. recorded by me, Dr. A.G. Orr and I are trying to solve the mistery of Phyllothemis species from Peninsular Malaysia.........




Friday, March 26, 2010

Zyxomma obtusum - Female

I showed in an earlier entry a photo of male Zyxomma obtusum (click here to see the photo). Now, I am showing you the photo of female Z. obtusum.




Sunday, March 21, 2010

Orthetrum luzonicum

Orthetrum luzonicum is a blue dragonfly species which looks alike O. glaucum. Nevertheless, the size difference of these two blue dragonfly species is quite obvious, with O. luzonicum have smaller size. Another characteristic of O. luzonicm is that it lacks dark patch at the wing base. The young O. luzonicum male has some yellow marking on thorax, however the matured male will be completely blue.


a young male O. luzonicum


matured male O. luzonicum


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Zyxomma obtusum

I have shown Zyxomma obtusum picture some time ago (click here to see the earlier entry). The Z. obtusum picture that I showed in the earlier entry is an immatured individual. Now, I have a picture of matured Z. obtusum. The matured Z. obtusum looks more gorgeous with strong white bloom on the body and also wings! It is very hard to see Z. obtusum in action (patrolling pools/ponds) because it normally starts its activity in very late afternoon around 6.30pm and ends around 7.30pm.




Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Larval Emergence.........

I have the answer for the species identity of the larva below......... the larva had finally emerged last night. Of course, I had a sleepless night to record the emergence of the larva.................

It is Cratilla metallica!




So, I recorded the process of larval emergence of Cratilla metallica. It emerged around 2 o'clock in the morning!



Monday, March 15, 2010

Libellulidae Larva

I caught this larva in a water pool along a soiled road in an oil palm plantation. I saw a few adult dragonfly species hanging around the water pool - Neurothemis fluctuans, Orthetrum testaceum and Cratilla lineata. This larva definately doesn't look like that of N. fluctuans because its size (body length is 23 mm) is too large for N. fluctuans, and it also doesn't seen to be Cratilla sp. (I checked the larva drawing in the Pocket Book of Dragonflies of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore). Well, I am not quite sure about O. testaceum. I would presume the larva of O. testaceum should look close to O. chrysis. Then, I have bred the larva of O. chrysis (click here to see the larva). The larva of O. chrysis has small eyes. However, this one has big eyes.

Anyway, I am breeding this larva. It is in its F0 stage, and it looks quite matured. It has been halfly emerging from water for the last two nights. It will emerge in the next few days, I guess. I will have the final answer for its identity.........




Click here to find the answer.


Sunday, March 14, 2010

Cratilla lineata

Cratilla lineata is another beautiful dragonfly with metallic blue colour on body. It looks alike C. metallica but can be distinguished easily by observing the wing tips. Cratilla metallica has dark wing tips but C. lineata lacks of this character.




Thursday, March 4, 2010

Larva of Podolestes orientalis

I found Podolestes orientalis larvae in Bangi Forest Reserve some time in February 2009. I was really thrilled when I first spotted P. orientalis larva at the natural habitat....... The larva of Podolestes has never been described, and many researchers/odonatologists have been looking for it but yielded fruitless results. I had to breed the larvae at home to confirm the correct identity.

Anyway, the description of Podolestes orientalis will be published in International Journal of Odonatology. The article will be out in the first issue of year 2010. Once the article is officially out, I shall post here some photographs of the P. orientalis larva.


Choong, C.Y. and Orr, A.G. 2010. The larva of Podolestes orientalis from West Malaysia, with notes on its habitat and biology (Odonata: Megapogrionidae). International Journal of Odonatology. In press.