Location:
Thousand Ponds
Species seen:
Anisoptera--Dragonflies
Libellulidae
Zygoptera--Damselflies
Coenagrionidae
Well, this morning Dad brough Yi Wei (my brother) and I to Thousand Ponds for some Insect-Bird watching.
Thosuand Ponds is just a description of the many ponds. Of course, I've never counted the ponds, but there are many shallow marshland ponds around the area.
Above is the list of Odonata I saw (:
I'm extremely happy as I've seen two lifers (new species I've never seen before in my life) for my first post! They are Diplocodes nebulosa and Indothemis limbata.
Today, I learnt how to differentiate Crocothemis servilia and Urothemis signata.
Firstly, they are both red libellulids (members of the family Libellulidae). Crocothemis servilia has a brighter tint of red than Urothemis signata. Also, should you see a black line down the abdomen, it will be C. servilia. If, however, you see two black dots at the tip of the abdomen, it will be an U. signata. Although the line is not always present on the C. servilia, and neither is the dots on U. signata, this is a good way to differentiate.
Furthermore, U. signata has a small brown patch on the part of the wing nearest to the thorax. Also, the wings have a red tinge to them absent in C. servilia.
Of course, the above only applies to males. I'm afraid I don't have the skill for Libellulid females yet.
Also, I learnt about the difference between Diplacodes nebulosa and Acisoma panorpoides. Acisoma panorpoides has a unique abdomen shape (fat then thin) that can easily let us recognize it regardless of female or male. This morning, I actually managed to get one particular female to land on my hand which enabled me to look at its shape closely! The light blue eyes of the male are also a dead-giveaway. On the otherhand the pretty blue Diplacodes nebulosa has deep brown wing tips which can be seen easily from far. Since it is a rather small species, it might look like a damselfly from far (well, at least it did for me).
Lastly for today's learning, the beautiful Indothemis limbata can be distinguished from the Trithemis festiva (which I didn't see today) by the lack of orange stripes down its back.
As we were scanning the opposite ends of the shallow marshy pond, we saw a rope which angered my brother as we thought it might be a line for hanging mist nets which bird-sellers use to catch birds to put in cages. However, we did not remove it as we weren't sure where the rope ended.
As we were walking out, it started drizzling. That might have explained the sudden lack of Odonata minutes before the rain.
I'm really glad about the visit to Thousand Ponds. It is definitely a place worth going and a morning well spent.
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