Pseudagrion rubriceps

Peninsular Malaysia contains five Pseudagrion species namely P. microcephalum, P. australasiae, P. williamsoni, P. pruinosum and P. rubriceps. Among these Pseudagrion species, P. rubriceps is the most striking one due to its orange colour on eyes, head and thorax. The orange colour is more extensive in female than in male. P. rubriceps is normally found at slow flowing water in open and grassy habitat. I found so many of P. rubriceps today at a site in UKM campus that I have overlooked for many years, and of course I had a good time shotting this gorgeous damselfly.


a male P. rubriceps
a female P. rubriceps
a tandem pair of P. rubriceps on wings
a good grasp of male on the female

Copera marginipes - Wheel Forming

I managed to record in a series of photos on the wheel forming of Copera marginipes.........

Ceriagrion auranticum in Wheel

I was lucky today to spot a pair of Ceriagrion auranticum in wheel. There were a few pairs of C. auranticum in tandem around the same area, but only this pair was in wheel.


Ceriagrion auranticum in wheel

a good grasp of male on the female

Prodasineura laidlawii

Peninsular Malaysia has four blue Prodasineura species namely P. interrupta, P. notostigma, P. collaris and P. laidlawii. All these Prodasineura species are readily distinguishable by their blue marking on synthorax, head and tail. These Prodasineura species are normally found at forest stream, swamp and even stream at oil palm plantation. Showing below is P. laidlawii which has less intensive blue marking on thorax compared to the other Prodasineura species.

Gynacantha subinterrupta

This morning I spotted a dead male Gynacantha subinterrupta on the floor of the corridor of my office. This was not the first time I collected G. subinterrupta in this manner. It looks like G. subinterrupta is very much attracted to house light. So, the Bangi Forest Reserve, adjacent to my working place, is a good refuge for G. subinterrupta.



the male anal appedages of G. subinterrupta

Onychargia atrocyana in Wheel

I know a good place in the UKM campus to watch Onychargia atrocyana having sex. I don't why O. atrocyana is so horny all the time. Every time when I spotted them, they were always in tandem or in wheel.

Underage Sex

The immature male Agriocnemis femina is in olive colour and lacks of white pruinescence while the immature female is in red colour (click here to see mature male and female). I spotted a pair of immature A. femina having sex. This is an underage sex! hehehehhehehe

Orchithemis pulcherrima in Wheel

I was lucky enough today to have this pair of Orchithemis pulcherrima in front of me so close, and I managed to snap a few good shots on them. I actually showed a pair of Orchithemis pulcherrima some time ago, and you may click here to view the entry.

Burmagomphus divaricatus

My second visit to Lentang Recreational Park, Pahang enabled me to bump into Burmagomphus divaricatus - my first time to encounter B. divaricatus! I spotted two whitish teneral male B. divaricatus. The white colour slowly turned into yellow/green and black colours in a few hours.

a young male adult of B. divaricatus
the dorsum thorax marking is distinct for B. divaricatus
the anal appendages are also unique in B. divaricatus

Odonata Checklist Lentang Recreational Park, Pahang

I visited the Lentang Recreational Park for second time. I managed to record five addition odonate species to be added to the Odonata checklist of Lentang Recreational Park (click here to view the earlier entry on Lentang Recreational Park). Now, the checklist contains 21 species.


Odonata Checklist for Lentang Recreational Park, Pahang

Family Amphipterygidae
Devadatta argyoides

Family Calopterygidae
Echo modesta
Neurobasis chinensis
Vestalis amethystina
Vestalis amoena

Family Chlorocyphidae
Heliocypha perforata

Family Euphaeidae
Dysphaea dimidiata
Euphaea ochracea

Family Coenagrionidae
Pseudagrion pruinosum

Family Platystictidae
Drepanosticta quadrata

Family Platycnemididae
Coeliccia albicauda
Copera vittata

Family Protoneuridae
Prodasineura humeralis
Prodasineura collaris
Prodasineura laidlawii

Family Gomphidae
Burmagomphus divaricatus

Family Libellulidae
Onychothemis coccinea
Orthetrum chrysis
Orthetrum testaceum
Tyriobapta torrida
Zygonyx iris

Damselfies in Wheel

Taking pictures of odanates in wheel is always challenging. Of course, first of all you have to wait until these gorgeous insects feeling like (have the mood or horny enough) mating. During mating, damselflies normally spend longer time in tandem pair than in wheel. So, you may have to wait until they really get horny to form a wheel. Once the wheel is formed, your camera have to be in paralle to the wheel in order to get both the male and female in focus. This is the most challenging part for damselflies because they normally perch not too high from the ground and the situation becomes worse as they perch near water. Posing yourself (to be more precise your camera) at the same level of the wheel is extremely difficult. Well, I was lucky somehow enble to shoot two damselfly species in wheel.........


Agriocnemis femina in wheel
the male and the famale are matured adults as both of them have white pruinescence on their thorax

Onychargia atrocyana in wheel
click here and here to see other entries on O. atrocyana

Larval Emergence - Indaeschna grubaueri

I finally have witnessed the whole larval emergence process of female Indaeschna grubaueri. The female larva was caught at Sg Sedim Recreational Park in Gunung Inas Forest Reserve, Kedah. When it was caught, the larva was at F4 stage. So, it lived in the acquarium for two months before the emergence. She started to emerge around 3.30am, and I had to stay up the whole night (without sleep) to record this exciting moment! You may view the male Indaeschna grubaueri larva here.

Ceriagrion auranticum - Female

I showed some images of male Ceriagrion auranticum not long ago (click here to see the images of male C. auranticum). The female of C. auranticum resembles the male in colour. However, the tail of female is a bit dark in colour compared to the male.


a female C. auranticum
a close up on the head and thorax of female C. auranticum
a tandem pair of C. auranticum

Coeliccia albicauda

I spotted many Coeliccia albicauda at Lentang Recreational Park, and this gave me plenty of opportunity to find the mating pair. I took a few shots of this mating pair (in tandem pair). The female of C. albicauda is bit different in colour compared to the male. The dorsal thorax marking of female is also different from the male.

a tandem pair of C. albicauda
the unique blue marking on the dorsal thorax of the male
a good grasp of male on the female

Euphaea ochracea

For Peninsular Malaysia, the family Euphaeidae contains three species i.e. Dysphaea dimidiata, Euphaea impar and Euphaea ochracea. Euphaea ochracea is easily recognised by its golden brown body and wings. It is normally found at clear forest stream.


a male E. ochracea
a female E. ochracea

Neurobasis chinensis - Female

The female of Neurobasis chinense is not as gorgeous as the male (click here to see the male N. chinensis). The wings of female N. chinensis are colourless. The presence of white dots on the wings (pseudo-pterostigma and pterostigma) is a good character to distingiush female of N. chinensis from female of N. longipes.

Lentang Recreational Park, Pahang

I had an outing today to Lentang Recreational Park, Pahang. The recreational park is located by the Karak Highway about half an hour drive from Kuala Lumpur. I tried to record the dragonfly species in the recreational park. I started to work from 9.30am to 3.30pm, and the weather was not good (cloudy the whole day with accasional dizzling). I managed to record 16 species belonging to nine families.



Odonata Checklist for Lentang Recreational Park, Pahang

Family Amphipterygidae
Devadatta argyoides

Family Calopterygidae
Echo modesta
Neurobasis chinensis
Vestalis amethystina
Vestalis amoena

Family Chlorocyphidae
Heliocypha perforata

Family Euphaeidae
Euphaea ochracea

Family Coenagrionidae
Pseudagrion pruinosum

Family Platystictidae
Drepanosticta quadrata

Family Platycnemididae
Coeliccia albicauda
Copera vittata

Family Protoneuridae
Prodasineura humeralis
Prodasineura collaris
Prodasineura laidlawii

Family Libellulidae
Orthetrum chrysis
Orthetrum testaceum

On Onychargia atrocyana Again......

I showed a tandem pair of Onychargia atrocyana not too long ago (click here to see the entry). I bumped into a tandem pair of O. atrocyana again, and this time I managed to get close to them to get some very close shots.......


a tandem pair of O. atrocyana
a close up to the head and thorax of male O. atrocyana. The head is quite hairy.
a close up to the head and thorax of female O. atrocyana with the grasp from the male at the neck.

Brachydiplax chalybea

There are three Brachydiplax species in Peninsular Malaysia namely B. chalybea, B. farinosa and B. sobrina. Three of them look alike, particularly between B. farinosa and B. sobrina. In this entry I am showing B. chalybea. By far, B. chalybea is the most easy to encounter among the three. Brachydiplax chalybea are readily to be distinguished by its yellow tint at the base of the wings and its thorax is more brownish compared to the other two species. The female B. chalybea is more brownish compared to the male.


a male B. chalybea
a female B. chalybea