Rhodothemis rufa

Anisoptera

Species Name: Rhodothemis rufa

Family: Libellulidae

For the first time I was able to rear a dragonfly larva up to emergence. However unfortunately although I guessed the day of emergence, I was too late to catch the start of the emergence process.On the morning of the larva's change to adulthood I woke up at 3:15 a.m. but found that it had already fully emerged! I was only able to take photos of it hanging fully extended from the exuvia.

This, after 2 months of guessing and wondering about its species, turned out to be Rhodothemis rufa a common species in Asia - with a range from Bangladesh through India, Indochina, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. My thanks to Dr Rory Dow and Dr Sadayuki Ugai for the sp. identification.

The male however is rather difficult to distinguish from other common and very similar red libellulids. However the female (shown here) is recognized by its brownish colour and the mid-dorsal light yellow streak which run from the top of the antefrons through the thorax down to segment 5 of the abdomen. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of a male.

The larva when I first collected it was a rather long-legged spiderlike creature!

Mature larva (underside)

Mature larva with mosquito larvae which I provided it. It also readily ate small tadpoles.

The newly emerged female with its characteristic mid-dorsal line.

Ceriagrion cerinorubellum

Zygoptera

Species Name: Ceriagrion cerinorubellum

Family: Coenagrionidae

Compared to the species in my previous post Ceriagrion cerinorubellum is widespread in tropical Asia but is no less beautiful, with its bluish green head and orange base and tip of the abdomen it is quite distinctive and cannot be mistaken for other species. The female is similarly coloured but darker. In India it is commonly known as the Orange-tailed Marsh Dart.

I have frequently found it in drains, ponds, and open swamps and sometimes in gardens near town. 

Pantala flavescens

Anisoptera

Species Name: Pantala flavescens
Family: Libellulidae

Pantala flavescens is certainly the world’s most widely distributed dragonfly – found worldwide in the tropics as well as in temperate zones of North America and Europe. It’s the only odonate that Borneo shares with the United Kingdom where it is found as a rare vagrant. For this reason, and because it had even been known to land on ships far out at sea, its common name is the Globe Skimmer or Wandering Glider.

The colour of the thorax and abdomen of both sexes is orangish to light brown with clear wings, the small dark area on the tip of the hindwing is distinctive. They can be seen flying almost anywhere in open country, sometimes in great numbers, they rarely perch. They breed in standing or slow moving water, so rice paddies in the tropics are particularly suitable habitats.

Male Globe Skimmer on my finger

As these insects are almost perpetually on the wing, I have not been able to take a good photo of them in nature. I was however lucky to find one on the ground – which I picked up and photographed perched on my finger.

Diplacodes trivalis

Anisoptera

Species Name: Diplacodes trivalis

Family: Libellulidae

Mature Male

This small dragonfly is in my opinion the commonest species in open places and drains and other disturbed areas. They can be found far from water in the lowlands as well as higher altitudes. The males are pruinose blue with black markings, while females and immature males are pale green. Looking somewhat like mini Orthetrum sabina they usually perch on the ground or on low grass.

Female Chalky Percher

This species is commonly called the Chalky Percher or Ground Skimmer and is very widespread in tropical Asia and Australiasia.

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!

Rhyothemis phyllis

Anisoptera
Species Name: Rhyothemis phyllis
Family: Libellulidae

This is another common species that is readily recognizable because of its beautiful markings in the base of its hindwings. They are usually found flying, fluttering a little like butterflies do, to and fro in large numbers on open spaces catching small insects. However, they can sometimes be seen perched singly on plants near ponds and drains where they breed.

It is another widespread species, ranging all across Asia from India, China, Japan to SE Asia down to Australia. One of their common English names is Yellow-striped Flutterer. Both male and female are similarly marked.

I find its markings rather nice and use it to make this design:

Orthetrum sabina

Anisoptera
Species Name: Orthetrum sabina
Family: Libellulidae

Most people in Sabah would have seen this very common dragonfly in the compound of houses and buildings both in rural areas as well as in towns, in gardens and parks, on the roadside, near drains and ponds. It is definitely one of the dragonflies that I had played with in my childhood!

It is in fact a very wide-spread species that occurs from North Africa, through the Middle East, India and Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia, to China and Japan, through Indonesia to Australia and Oceania.

This dragonfly's distinctive yellowish-green colour with black markings and a slender abdomen or "tail" make it very recognizable and cannot be mistaken for any other dragonfly of this size. It breeds in drains, shallow ponds and even muddy pools of water. Its common name is the Slender Skimmer.