Larval Emergence - Lathrecista asiatica

The larvae of Lathrecista asiatica and Agrionoptera sexlineata are quite similar in shape. I didn't pay much attention on the L. asiatica larva until it emerged. Just before the emergence, however, I did realize that the size of asiatica larva is slightly smaller than that of sexlineata. I shall look into the masks of this two species to find out if there is any difference.

a newly emerged female L. asiatica and its casing

Agrionoptera sexlineata - Matured Male

This entry is still on Agrionoptera sexlineata. I look a little bit obsess on this lovely insect. Now, I'm going to show you how the matured male A. sexlineata look like. Here you go.......

Agrionoptera sexlineata - Larval Emergence I

I finally managed to photograph a series of emergence of a male Agrionoptera sexlineata. The whole process of emergence took about 2 hours.

Hunter Hunted

I spotted two male adults of Tyriobapta torrida hunted by two large water spiders at the leafy shady pond in Bangi Forest Reserve. The hunters were hunted! Hey Mr. Spider, how is it? Yummy?

Habitat - Leafy Shady Pond

One of the unique habitat for Odonata in Bangi Forest Reserve is leafy swampy shady pond (see below pictures). I have seen flying adults of Copera vittata, Podolestes orientalis, Agrionoptera sexlineata, Tyriobapta torrida and Neurothemis fluctuans hanging around the pond. Many larvae of Gynacantha basiguttata, Agrionoptera sexlineata and Copera vittata also have been collected from the pond.

Libellulidae - Agrionoptera sexlineata

The newly emerged female Agrionoptera sexlineata is still surviving. I took a few snaps of it after one and a half days of its emergence. Now the colour of its thorax and abdomen is more intense. It is really a lovely libellulid species.

The Libellulid Larva Has Emerged!

I posted an entry on the libellulid larva on 12 December, 2008. One of the libellulid larvae that I caught emerged last night. Now the species identity of the larva has finally revealed. It is an Agrionoptera sexlineata. I wouldn't be surprised as I have seen quite a number of A. sexlineata adults hanging around the habitat.


this larva image was taken nine days before the emergence; a female larva
the larva has finally hatched; it is a female A. sexlineata; the newly emerged adult still has its wing close
the newly emerged adult finally has its wings open

Mask - Chlorogompidae

What is this? Ahha...... it is actually the mask of a dragonfly larva. The mask is important structure located under the neck/head of the larva. It is used to catch its prey. Different species/genera/families have different shape of mask, and it is taxonomically significant.

this is a mask of a Chlorogompidae larva; dorsal view

Larva - Libellulidae

I caught some libellulid larvae from the same site of the Gynacantha basiguttata larvae. The libellulid larvae are cute. Showing below is one of the libellulid larvae that I caught. I have no idea what libellulid species it is. It was found at a leafy shady pond. Does anyone want to give it a guess? I will give out the correct answer once it is hatched (I'm breeding this larva).

Corduliidae - Macromia corycia

Corduliidae - Macromia corycia Laidlaw, 1922

Macromia corycia is not a Peninsular Malaysia species. It is endemic to Borneo. Actually, I got this photo of M. corycia from Sarawak, and I feel like sharing it here with those interested in dragonflies. Macromia corycia is definitely a forest species. I bumped into it when it was patrolling a shady spot of the flowing forest stream.

the shining green eyes are just gorgeous

Exuviae - Gynacantha basiguttata

I looked into the exuviae of Gynacantha basiguttata (Family Aeshnidae) over the weekend. Wow! I didn't realize that I have 18 basiguttata exuviae in my little box. These exuviae are of the reared larvae that I collected from the Bangi Forest Reverse the last 1-2 months. I couldn't believe that I've successfully reared 18 basiguttata!

Corduliid Larva

Larvae from the family Corduliidae are beautiful. They have the shape like spider.

this larva was caught at forest stream in Cameron Highlands

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.