Drepanosticta rufostigma

Borneo is rich in family Platystictidae, and most members of Platystictidae are endemic species. Drepanosticta rufostigma is a member of Platystictidae, and it is endemic to Borneo.

Drepanosticta actaeon

Drepanosticta actaeon is an endemic damselfly species to Borneo. It has so far been found in Sabah.

Neurothemis santaclausi

This is a Neurothemis santaclausi found in Peninsular Malaysia. This species is very seasonal, it only comes out in late December and early January annually. It totally disappears in the other months of the year. Odonatologists are still figuring the reason for this extreme behaviour!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Tetrathemis platyptera

Tetrathemis platyptera is quite similar to T. irregularis. However, T. platyptera is easily recognized by its tinted wing bases, of which lacking in T. irregularis. Tetrathemis platyptera is much less common than T. irregularis.

Libellago stigmatizans

Libellago stigmatizans is a beutiful damselfly species with a bit of orange colour on the head. It is normally found at rocky forest streams.

Rhinocypha humeralis

Rhinocypha humeralis is found abundantly in Imbak Canyon (Borneo Sabah). The blue marking on the side of its abdomen is just beautiful. The female of R. humeralis is rather dull in colour, but the wing tips is dark.


a male Rhinocypha humeralis
a female Rhinocypha humeralis

Rhinagrion elopurae

Rhinagrion elopurae is truely an elegant damselfly from Borneo......

a male Rhinagrion elopurae
a female Rhinagrion elopurae

Vestalis beryllae

Borneo is extremely rich in Vestalis species. These Vestalis species are hardly distingiushed by photographs except V. beryllae. Vestalis beryllae has extremely long abodomen. It could be straight away recognized from far by its long abdomen. Vestalis beryllae is normally spotted at slope far away from water, and always only present in one or two individuals. I photographed this V. beryllae at the ridge of Imbak Canyon. It was a tough and tiring journey to go up to the ridge of Imbak Canyon, and this nice V. beryllae photo paid off the sweat and hard work of me climbing up to the dangerous ridge!

Imbak Canyon - A Haven on Earth

I'm back from Imbak Canyon (Sabah)!

Full of excitement, full of adventures, full of joy, full of everything...... Imbak Canyon is truely a haven on earth.

Over 30 species of Odonata have been recorded within 10 days of field work in Imbak Canyon. I managed to snap good shots on few of these species, and I shall share with you in the next few blog entries......


the misty morning of Kangkawat River

another view of misty morning of Kangkawat River

the magnificent Kuli Waterfall

Crossing Imbak River to get into Imbak Canyon Conservation Area

I'm on Field Again Soon...........

In less than a week time I will be setting my feet on Borneo Sabah for dragonflies. I will be joining a scientific expedition to Imbak Canyon. This will be my first experience on sampling Odonata of Sabah, though I have done twice sampling of Odonata in Sarawak. I am really looking forward for this exciting field trip..........

Indocnemis orang

I bumped into these two individuals of Indocnemis orang at Sg Tekala Recreational Forest. They are just gorgeous.


male
female

Sg Tekala Recreational Forest

Sg Tekala Recreational Forest, Selangor is not far from the place I live - 25 km to be exact. I passed by the recreational forest a few times only, but I never got off my car to pay a visit to the recreational forest. Nevertheless, I've finally paid a visit to the recreational forest over the weekend. To my surprise, I was really impressed by the beauty and peace of the recreational forest. The recreational forest is built along Sg Tekala. It could be very busy during weekends. Visitors (mainly families) tend to gether not far from the entrance of the recreational forest for having a nice day-out. For those who fancy peace, however, may have to get deep into the recreational forest.


Sg Tekala
Sg Tekala
Small waterfall at the upstream of Sg Tekala

Neurothemis terminata

I haven't seen any Neurothemis terminata in Peninsular Malaysia. So, N. terminata is rare in Peninsular Malaysia. However, N. terminata is not rare in Borneo. During my field trip to Sarawak lately, I spotted some N. terminata. Neurothemis terminata looks alike N. fluctuans (very common in Peninsular Malaysia) and N. fulvia.

Libellago lineata in Wheel

I see Libellago lineata regularly in Bangi Forest Reserve with male and female in equal number. However, these L. lineata individuals are not horny - hardly see them in copulation. My latest visit to Bangi Forest Reserve was rewarding as I spotted a wheel pair of L. lineata, and of course I took some shots on this wheel pair.

Archibasis rebeccae

Archibasis rebeccae is one of the odonates endemic to Peninsular Malaysia (including Singapore). Its blue marking on the abdominal segment 10 is quite variable. Archibasis rebeccae is not a common species, and I spotted it in a few occassions only.

Ictinogomphus decoratus - Female

Now I have a better picture of female Ictinogomphus decoratus...... Click here to see the male of I. decoratus.

Brachydiplax farinosa - Female

It is quite hard to spot female Brachydiplax farinosa eventhough the male is present in abundant. Anyway, I finally managed to spot a female of B. farinosa for a few photographs.

Two New Amphicnemis Species

Two new species of Amphicnemis appeared today in the scientific journal Zootaxa (click here to read the preview of the article). They are Amphicnemis bebar Dow, Choong & Ng, 2010 and Amphicnemis hoisen Dow, Choong & Ng, 2010. Both the new species were found at Sg Bebar swamp forest in September 2009. Therefore, two more species have been added to the Odonata checklist of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.


Amphicnemis bebar

Amphicnemis hoisen


Below are lateral views of the anal appendages for A. bebar and A. hoisen.

Amphicnemis bebar

Amphicnemis hoisen

Odonata Checklist for Bangi Forest Reserve

I put an entry on the Odonata checklist of Bangi Forest Reserve and UKM Bangi Campus on March 31, 2008. At the time the checklist had 74 odonate species. By September 4, 2010, the total number of odonate species on the checklist has increased to 92 - 60 species are dragonflies and 32 species are damselflies. This shows the richness of odonate fauna in Bangi Forest Reserve.

Rhyothemis phyllis in Wheel

Rhyothemis phyllis is abundant in Peninsular Malaysia. However, it is infrequent to see them in wheel. Maybe one of the reasons is that the duration in wheel is pretty short for R. phyllis, and this seems to be the same for other Rhyothemis species. I was lucky enough to have a wheel pair landed not too far before my camera, and I just managed to snap two shots. One shots turned acceptable.

Camacinia gigantea

I have been observing dragonflies for the last six years in Peninsular Malaysia, I only bumped into Camacinia gigantea at two locations. So, C. gigantea is definately very local in Peninsular Malaysia. Taking photos of C. gigantea is always chanllenging as it does not perch frequently. Nevertheless, I finally managed to get close to C. gigantea to take some decent photos. Looking at C. gigantea is just like looking at a very large Neurothemis fluctuans. The site where I spotted C. gigantea also showed the presence of N. fluctuans. So, there you go with the scene of big and small "Neurothemis fluctuans" flying around.

Rhodothemis rufa

Rodothemis rufa, Crocothemis servilia, Orthetrum testaceum and Orthetrum chrysis are always confusing because all of them are red dragonflies with quite similar size. Orthetrum chrysis and O. testaceum may be distinguished from R. rufa and C. servilia by noticing the colour of eyes. Rhodothemis rufa and C. servilia have red eyes but O. chrysis and O. testaceum have brown/dark eyes. To differentiate R. rufa from C. servilia is not difficult - i) C. servilia has black strip on the dorsal of abdomen but not in R. rufa; ii) the eyes of R. rufa are barely touching each other but the eyes of C. servilia well touching each other. Below are two photos of R. rufa. The second photo shows the eyes of R. rufa barely touching each other.


Rhodothemis rufa perching on grass blade

Fighting for Women!

These two guys (Libellago lineata) are fighting for women!

Paragomphus capricornis - Female

Paragomphus capricornis is a medium size gomphid species. I bumped into a female P. capricornis in Bangi Forest Reserve. The female and male P. capricornis have similar marking. Click here to see a male P. capricornis.

female Paragomphus capricornis

Coeliccia octogesima - In Tandem

Male Coeliccia octogesima is more commonly spotted than female. To bump into a tandem pair of C. octogesima is something to be celebrated. I spotted a tandem pair of C. octogesima, and I waited for 20 minits to see if they would form a wheel pair before my eyes. However, they vanished before me, and I have to content myself with just tandem pair photos. The female C. octogesima has different thoracic marking than the male. Click here to see the clear thoracic marking of male C. ocotogesima.

Burmagomphus divaricatus - Female

Burmagomphus divaricatus is a medium size gomphid species occurring at muddy forest stream. I spotted a female of B. divaricatus at a small muddy stream in Bangi Forest Reserve. The male and female of B. divaricatus have similar yellow marking on thorax. Click here to see the male adult of B. divaricatus.


Female of Burmagomphus divaricatus

Microgomphus chelifer - Female

Microgomphus chelifer is a small gomphid species with a size of hw 20 mm. Well, its small size is well indicated by the name "micro" meaning small. I spotted a female of M. chelifer at a muddy small forest stream. I didn't expect to see M. chelifer at this type of habitat (the common habitat for this species is clear forest stream). The male and female of M. chelifer have similar yellow marking on thorax.


a female of Microgomphus chelifer
the characteristic side thoric marking of Microgomphus chelifer

Book - Dragonflies of Singapore

I received a complimentary copy of the book A Photographic Guide to the Dragonflies of Singapore. The book is authored by H.B. Tang, L.K. Wang and M. Hamalainen, and published by National University of Singapore. It is really an excellent book with excellent photos. I give a thumb up for the book.

I received a complimentary copy of the book because there is a photo (Rhyothemis pygmaea, pp. 191) in the book contributed by me.

Libellago lineata - Female

Showing below are photos of female Libellago lineata. Click here to view the photos of male L. lineata.

Gynacantha subinterrupta - Female

I knew that one Gynacantha subinterrupta female larva wanted to emerge in an very early morning. I waited until 2 o'clock morning for the larva to emerge, and I was so tried that I decided to go to bed....


a female larva of Gynacantha subinterrupta is out of water and clinging high away from water. It emerged three hours later.
the young adult of female Gynacantha subinterrupta - 15 hours after the larval emergence
the young adult of female Gynacantha subinterrupta - 15 hours after the larval emergence