Argiocnemis alcyone

Zygoptera

Species Name: Argiocnemis alcyone

Family: Coenagrionidae

Photo 1: A young male (this species goes through 

a series of colour change as it matures, 

young specimens have largely red abdomens)

I found this delightful little damselfly to be quite common in shaded drains and in weeds among the palms in the plantation I where work. 

Dr Rory Dow who is in the process of re-describing this species (and transfering it to this genus from Mortonagrion) identified my photos and said it was an endemic species in Borneo and my photographs are probably the only ones of this species in existance! He added "It appears to be quite widely distributed along the east coast of Borneo, but there is an apparently isolated population in Brunei."

Photo 2: A female

Photo 3: A mature male

Agriocnemis femina

Zygoptera
Species Name: Agriocnemis femina
Family: Coenagrionidae

Look in the grass beside drains and ponds in open areas near your house or in the paddy fields and you will almost surely find this species of damselfly. You have to look closely as they are really small and because their colour changes with age and the sexes are different in colour, they are a bit confusing and difficult to identify properly. Furthermore many small damselflies look very similar so it’s really hard for us non-experts to confirm the species.

Young males are green and black in colour with the tip of the abdomen (“tail”) orange, but as they grow older they become darker and the thorax becomes covered with a white growth called pruinescence and the orange at tip of its abdomen fades. So with naked eye they look little white bodied insects with dark “tails”.

Immature females on the other hand are bright red which turn olive greenish with dark brown markings.

I used to think they were four different species!