Tholymis tillarga - Ovipositing

I spotted this female of Tholymis tillarga ovipositing in a small pond around 6 o'clock in the late afternoon. Tholymis tillarga normally starts to get active from 5pm onwards, though I have seen T. tillarga patrolling pond in Langkawi as early as 3pm.

Ceriagrion auranticum

I was a bit surprised lately to record the presence of Ceriagrion auranticum in UKM Bangi Campus which is part of the larger area of Bangi Forest Reserve. For the last five years of observation around the UKM Bangi campus and the Bangi Forest Reserve, and this is the first time I bumped into C. auranticum. So, C. auranticum will be added to the Odonata checklist of Bangi Forest Reserve........ the list is getting longer.......

The Aeshnid Larva Has Emerged.........

The aeshnid larva that I have been talking about has emerged finally. I am right, the larva is Indaeschna grubaueri. I had been away for two days on outstation duty, and the larva just emerged during my absence! Too bad. By the time I arrived home, I saw the exuvia hanging on the stick, and the young adult was perching on the floor not far from the stick. I did not have the opportunity to witness the process of the emergence.


the exuvia clinging on the stick

a newly emerged male adult of Indaeschna grubaueri

Aeshnid Larva

The aeshnid male larva I caught from Sg Sedim Recreational Park, Kedah is still surviving in my aquarium. I have been feeding it with tadpoles. The larva is on its final stage (F0), and it will emerge in the next few days. Now it has stopped feeding, and it halfly came up from water in the last two nights. I am expecting it is an Indaeschna grubaueri.

The size of the larva now is 48 mm from head to tail. The wing cases of the larva have harden. I actually showed this same individual larva earlier (click here to see the earlier image of this individual larva), and at the time the larva was at F2 stage. From the F2 stage to the present stage, the larva has taken at least 100 small and large tadpoles!

Key and Lock

During mating, male odanate will use his anal appendages (key) to grasp the neck (lock) of female. The anal appendages of male is unique as different species will have different shape of anal appendages. On the other hand, the neck of female has unique structure as well which fixes into the shape of the anal appendages of male. Therefore, the grasp of male's anal appendage onto female's neck is very specific to species. The anal appendages and neck just act like key and lock. Showing below are how well the anal appendages fix into the neck of two damselfly species - Pseudagrion microcephalum and Prodasinuera collaris.


Pseudagrion microcephalum

Prodasineura collaris

Tandem Pair on Wings

I bumped into a tandem pair of Prodasinuera collaris at a small stream in an oil palm plantation. This tandem pair was flying above the water surface looking for suitable spots for ovipositing. I took a few good snaps on them while they were on wings.

Trithemis festiva

Trithemis festiva is normally found at flowing streams with rock and gravel. It is always confused with Indothemis limbata because both of them have dark blue colour and similar size. However, T. festiva can be distinguished from I. limbata by having orange streaks on its abdomen and it does not have dark wing-tips.

Brachythemis contaminata

I bumped into a female Brachythemis contaminata on my photographic outing today. The weather was cloudy and the sun was not hot, and it gave me a comfortable surrounding to snap pictures on this female B. contaminata. Normally female and immatured male of B. contaminata are less intensed in orange colour compared to matured male. B. contaminata is normally found at open pond and lake.

female B. contaminata
female B. contaminata


I also in another occasion snap a picture of a male B. contaminata. You may see that the orange colour is much more intensed on the wings and body of the male.

male B. contaminata