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