Larval Emergence IV - Aeshnidae

Still on larval emergence........ this time, I even went further to record much earlier stages of emergence...........

a few minutes before the cracking of casing

the casing starting to crack from the head to the thorax, and the head/eyes and dorsal thorax are emerging slowly

Larval Emergence III - Aeshnidae

It is still the story of larval emergence.......... Well, I showed the images of emergence by stages in the last couple of entries. However, the very early stages of emergence seem to be missing in those entries. Nevertheless, I've finally managed to capture this early part of the emergence event.......

Larva Emergence II - Aeshnidae

The Aeshnidae larvae are continuously emerging (almost every night). They do it in the early morning, and it is quite annoying to get up from the cosy bed just wanting to witness this beautiful moment of larval emergence. One of the emergences was not that successful as the newly emerged yet developed dragonfly fell off the casing/exuvia. I picked it up from the floor with a stick so that it could cling on the stick to continue its development. Below is a brief series of the development of this individual (you may notice that the casing/exuvia is absent). The newly developed dragonfly is a female Gynacantha basiguttata.

Larval Emergence I - Aeshnidae

Finally, some of the Aeshnidae larvae I caught from Bangi Forest Reserve have emerged. Now the identity of the larvae has been revealed - they are actually Gynacantha basiguttata.

this larva image was taken 16 hours just before its emergence; it is a female with a size of 38 mm.

Below are a series of images showing the stages of emergence of the above female larva. The larva started to emerge around 3 am early morning when it was still dark. The whole process of emerging took roughly 3 hours.

So, the identity of the larva is revealed. It is a female Gynacantha basiguttata.

Aeshnidae Larva II

I went back to the pond that I visited 1-2 weeks ago, and I still found plenty of the aeshnid larvae. I caught a few more to bring back home for rearing. These larvae are large ranging at 30-36 mm. I put together 12 larvae in a big glass tank. To my horror these larvae practise cannibalism! They could take up a bait as big as their size.... totally incredible! Now I have to separate them. Below is a male larva with a size of 36 mm. I really don't know how much more it could grow before emergence.

male; the length of the bar is 10 mm

Aeshnidae Larva I

I went to a swampy pond in the Bangi Forest Reserve yesterday to catch some tadpoles. To my surprise, I spotted many aeshnid larvae (see photo below), and most of them are in the size range of 2-3 cm. These larvae have similar appearence, therefore, I think they are from the same species. Five aeshnid species have been recorded in Bangi Forest Reserve (Click here to see the checklist for Bangi Forest Reserve):

Anax guttatus (Burmeister, 1839)
Anax panybeus Hagen, 1867
Gynacantha basiguttata Selys, 1882
Gynacantha bayadera Selys, 1891
Gynacantha subinterrupta Rambur, 1842

To my own judgement, these larvae do not seem to be Anax species. Therefore, they could be one of those Gynacantha species. I am not good at larva identification. Anyway, I caught a few of them for rearing in hope to get the correct identification.

the black colour bar is 1 cm in length

Libellulidae - Diplacodes nebulosa

Libellulidae - Diplacodes nebulosa (Fabricius, 1793)

Diplacodes nebulosa is a small size (hw 19 mm) dragonfly species. It is commonly found at exposed habitats, and it likes to hang around areas covered by short grasses and marshes. Diplacodes nebulosa is not that beautiful compared to other dragonfly species. The dark tips on both the fore and hindwings are distinctive to identify the species.

Megapodagrionidae - Rhinagrion macrocephalum

Megapodagrionidae - Rhinagrion macrocephalum (Selys, 1862)

Rhinagrion macrocephalum is another beautiful damselfly species from family Megapodagrionidae. It is not easy to bump into R. macrocephalum, and I only spotted it in forest of Perak state. I like its bright blue tail and light green strips on thorax.... absolutely gorgeous. Another equally gorgeous species of the family Megapodagrionidae is Rhinagrion mima. Both macropcephalum and mima are easily distinguished by the different colour on tail.

Platycnemididae - Larva

I have been a bit carry away with odonate larvae lately. I went to a pond in the UKM Bangi campus to do some sampling on odonate larvae, and I managed to catch this little larva (1 cm). This larva belongs to Copera vittata (they were many adult C. vittata hanging around the pond; and I didn't see any C. marginipes). The long finged gills of the larva are marvelous. You may view the adult of C. vittata at http://odonata-malaysia.blogspot.com/2008/08/platycnemididae-copera-vittata.html.

Chlorocyphidae - Aristocypha fenestrella

Chlorocyphidae - Aristocypha fenestrella (Rambur, 1842)

Aristocypha fenestrella is one of the odonate species with wide range of altitudinal distribution (0-1700 m). I personally encountered this species at the altitude of 1500 m in Cameron Highlands. The iridescent wings are particularly gorgeous when it is in fly. The larva of A. fenestrella is beautiful with two gills (typical of family Chlorocyphidae) at the end of the abdomen.


larva of Aristocypha fenestrella