Dragonfly (48) – Gynacantha basiguttata

Family : Aeshnidae
Common Name : Spoon-tailed Duskhawker
Status : Rare
Location : Mandai Forest

Encountering this large dragonfly in Singapore is a rare treat. Often spotted feeding at dawn and dusk, it gracefully hangs from tree branches throughout the day. Its distinctive feature is a pair of elongated, slender appendages at the end of its abdomen, which widen into small spoons, earning it the apt name of the Spoon-tailed Duskhawker.

(Female, Mandai forest, 19 December 2015)

In a dimly forested area of Mandai, we spotted this elusive female specimen. Its natural camouflage made it incredibly challenging to discern against the dark surroundings. This skittish species only allowed us to capture record shots from a distance of 2 meters before swiftly flying away as we attempted to approach for a closer inspection.

Nevertheless, after a 15-month break, I’m thrilled to have added a new dragonfly species to my collection!

Reference : A photographic guide to the Dragonflies of Singapore

Dragonfly (47) – Raphismia bispina

Family : Libellulidae
Common Name : Mangrove Dwarf
Status : Uncommon
Location : Pasir Ris Farmway

This dragonfly, uncommon and distinct, thrives uniquely in saline waters amidst mangroves. Both males and females are diminutive, measuring around 2.5 cm in length. According to Mr. Tang Hung Bun’s Dragonfly Book, sightings of the Mangrove Dwarf have been documented in various locations including Changi, Mandai, Pulau Semakau, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin, and the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

My initial glimpse into this species came through images captured by friends. In August 2010, Yan Leong shared a photo of a female, followed by Allan Lee’s capture of a male in December 2011, both from the Chek Jawa mangrove in Pulau Ubin. A cursory internet search revealed the rarity of photographs of this mangrove species, with fortunate sightings primarily occurring at Chek Jawa.

Long desiring to photograph this elusive dragonfly, I hesitated to trouble Yan Leong or Allan for a trip to Chek Jawa. However, fate intervened when I encountered Loh, a fellow enthusiast possibly even more passionate about dragonflies, especially mangrove species. During our meeting at Zhenghua Forest, Loh shared his meticulously captured images of both male and female Mangrove Dwarfs, revealing their permanent residency at Pasir Ris Farmway. Eagerly, I requested to accompany him on his next excursion.

Yesterday, as planned, we rendezvoused at the entrance of Pasir Ris Farmway. After a brief drive, we parked near the roadside and ventured into a seemingly ordinary, forested area on the right. Despite the absence of mangrove swamps, we remained hopeful. The unexpected sighting in such a location would surely astonish even Mr. Tang Hung Bun!

(Residence of Mangrove Dwarf)

With no time to spare, we swiftly crossed the road and entered the forest. Following Loh’s lead, he directed me to the spot where he often spotted this elusive dragonfly. Remarkably, within just 10 minutes, my eyes caught sight of a small blue dragonfly resting on a cluster of fallen branches beside the roadside. I immediately alerted Loh, who confirmed that it was indeed the male mangrove dwarf we had been seeking!

(A male Raphismia bispina)

The males bear a striking resemblance to Brachydiplax chalybea, often seen perched motionless on exposed branches, diligently guarding their territories around saline mangrove pools. This particular male perfectly fits this description, although notably, there was no nearby salty mangrove in sight. Instead, I stumbled upon a small patch of muddy terrain with little water just a few meters away. Interestingly, another male was sighted perched high atop a branch, near a spider web.

(Another male Mangrove Dwarf)

Encountering a third male, I seized the opportunity to capture a frontal view.

(Front view of the male)

Here are two additional images of the same male on the identical perch. The difference is the male on the right was captured with Loh’s assistance in blocking the harsh sunlight. Which one do you prefer?

(Same dragonfly, same perch but different lighting condition)

I shot another male but this one didn’t have the blue on its thorax or abdomen.  Could this be a young or aged male?

(An aged male?)

I am glad to spot a few female mangrove dwarfs too. The female has a black coloured body with yellow marking on the side of the thorax and yellow streaks along the abdomen.

(Female)

Here is another female:

(Female Mangrove Dwarf)

Another view of the female:

(Front view of a female)

In total, we spotted approximately four males and three females within a five-meter radius, indicating a thriving population of this species. Once again, I’m immensely grateful to Loh for introducing me to this site; without his guidance, capturing so many remarkable shots of these charming little creatures would not have been possible.

Reference : A photographic guide to the Dragonflies of Singapore

Damselflies & Dragonflies @ Bekok Waterfall

Bekok is a town located at the eastern side of the district of Segamat, Johor, Malaysia. Bekok is well-known especially among nature lovers since Bekok is the western entrance to Endau Rompin National Park as well as having a refreshing waterfall known as Sungai Bantang Waterfall.

I had visited Bekok waterfall twice, one on a recce mission on 25 May 2013, and the recent one on 29 June 2013 where I joined Nature Photographic Society, Singapore (NPSS) on a marco photography outing.  The meeting point was at the first Esso Petrol kiosk after Tuas 2nd link Customs.   18 of us gathered at 6.35 am, drove to Machap for breakfast and arrived Bekok Waterfall at 9.45 am, approximately 200 km of driving.

(Group photo at the entrance of Bekok Waterfall)

There is a stream near the entrance and it looks like a place full of damselflies, just like the stream at Gunung Belumut.

(A stream near the entrance)

Unfortunately it was not the case, only a few species could be found. One of which was a Protoneuridae interrupta. In Singapore, it is classified as an uncommon forest species.

(Podasineura interrupta)

There were quite a no. of the male Euphaea ochracea, most of them perched just above the fast flowing water. This must be one of the most common forest species in Malaysia.

(Euphaea ochracea, Male)

There were a few Aristocypha fenestrella. This is a sun-loving species and they prefer to perch on rocks under direct sunlight. Photographing them is a little challenging as it is difficult to avoid the harsh sunlight. They were also more sensitive to human than the other damselflies species in Bekok.

(Aristocypha fenestrella, male & female)

It has a very nice common name known as Peacock Jewel, most likely due to its beautiful metallic colouration on its wing!. One of the most interesting behaviours of A. frnestrella is when two males are involved in aerial territorial fight.  Getting both males sharp while they are fighting in mid-air are extremely difficult.  I did not manage to get any decent fighting shot of A. frnestrella but was happy to photograph a male Heliocypha perforate chasing another losing male during a fight!

(Heliocypha perforate – Territorial fight )

There were some common dragonflies and damselflies such as Spine-tufted Skimmer, Yellow Featherlegs, Blue-sided Satinwing, Common Flashwing, etc which I did not capture them as they are quite easily found in Singapore. One common dragonfly however caught our attention and that was a male Tree-hugger. It is special because its left wing did not have the metallic bluish-black at the base of the hingwing.

(Tree-hugger, male)

While I was disappointed not to find more damselfly species here, it was compensated with the sighting of a few lantern bugs (Laternaria ruhli) on a tree nearby.  Lantern bugs are very rare in Singapore, the last official sighting was in October 2009 (See “Records of Lantern Bug … ” by NUS).  As none of us have seen lantern bugs in Singapore, we would not want to miss this great opportunity to add this into our collection.

(Shooting lantern bugs overlooking the main stream)

I have seen images of lantern bugs taken by friends in Malaysia before but I didn’t expect it to be that big. I think it is about 20% bigger than the common cicada that we see in Singapore.

(Lantern bugs)

Another highlight of the trip was we found many butterflies, 6 species to be exact, feeding on sandy ground near the edge of the stream. I was not sure what were they feeding on but it must be very tasty as they kept coming back to the same spot.

(6 butterfly species feeding on sandy ground)

Among all the butterfly shots, the image below is my favourite as it shows the size difference between the tiny Common Pierrot vs the much larger Common Jay (please correct me if I identified them incorrectly).

(Common Pierrot vs Common Jay)

After lunch, we walked through the forested path and soon reached the upper stream where there is a nice refreshing waterfall. This should be the Bekok waterfall that people are taking about.

(Bekok Waterfall)

If Gunung Belumut is a heaven for damselflies, Bekok should be a paradise for frogs and toads as we spotted so many of them both from the lower and upper streams.

(Toad & Frogs)

Frogs in particular are photogenic subjects to shoot and it was no surprise to see my friends trying to get the best angles.

(Shooting the “prince charming”!)

I personally find the Black-spotted Rock frogs most charming and therefore I had shot them with various angles.

(Black-spotted Rock frogs)

When the black-spotted rock frogs were in abundant, it was not difficult to spot at least 2 of them together. Some of my friends saw 3 to 5 of them in a single spot, I could only shoot 2 in a frame.

(A pair of Black-spotted Rock frogs)

Thanks to my friend, Allan, who found a black-spotting rock frog having a male Euphaea ochracea damselfly as lunch near the waterfall. This is my first time seeing a frog eating and this has to be my catch of the day!

(Black-spotted rock frog having damselfly as lunch!)

Happy with what I had already shot, I put aside my camera gear to join Yan Leong, Allan & Chiat Pin for a cool dip in the stream. OMG! It was cold in there!

(Photo credit : Hazel Han)

After a tired but rewarding day, we deserved a good dinner at Cathay Restaurant in Kulai.

(Photo credit : Tony Png)

Reference : Wikipedia

Dragonfly (46a) – Idionyx ylanda, female

Family : Corduliidae
Common Name : Shadowdancer
Status : Rare
Location : Venus Drive

This is a relatively small dragonfly spotted at Venus Drive this morning. It has very thin abdomen and usually found perched, hanging vertically from high branches.

(Female, Venus Drive – 8 June 2013)

According to Mr Tang Hung Bun’s Dragonflies Book, it was once listed as a critically endangered species in the Singapore Red Data Book, but the present knowledge suggests a less threatened status.

(Female, Venus Drive – 8 June 2013)

Can dragonflies and damselflies be good neighbours?

From my observation, many male damselflies species show very strong territory behaviour. They will find a good breeding ground which then becomes his territory. The size of the territorial area varies with different species. For eg. the Libellago family usually establish their territories ranging from 1.5 to 3 metres. The males would perch on their favorite spot and overlook their territory. If another male of the same species attempts to take his territory he will then try to chase him away. If any mature receptive female enters his space, he will attempt to mate with her. It is unlikely to see two males of the same species become good neighbours. However, the territory holder is more tolerant to other males or females of different species as demonstrated by the 2 images below:

(A male Libellago Hyalina sharing the same territory with a female Prodasineura collaris)

(A male Libellago lineata sharing the same territory with a male Pseudagrion microcephalum)

Male dragonflies are equally territorial as well. However, when the areas are small with very few nice spots to perch, they have no choice but to become temporary good neighbours as seen below:

(Three male dragonflies: Ictinogomphus decoratus, Crocothemis servilla, Orthetrum chrysis)

So, can dragonflies and damselflies be good neighbours?
Of course, they can 🙂

A male damselfly (Ceriagrion cerinorubellum) with a male dragonfly (Diplacodes nebulosa)

Dragonfly (45) – Macromia cydippe

Family : Corduliidae
Common Name : Lesser Stream Cruiser
Status : Very rare
Location : Venus Drive

According to the book “A photographic guide to the Dragonflies of Singapore“, Macromia cydippe is a very rare species in Singapore.  It was first recorded at Nee Soon Swamp forest on 3 January 2010 by Mr Cheong Loong Fah.

While going through my old photos recently, I found 2 low quality images of a dragonfly very similar to Macromia cydippe. Both images were taken on 28 January 2009 when I was still new in learning macro photography.

(Venus Drive – 28 Jan 2009)

A check with Mr Tang Hung Bun, one of the authors of the above book, confirmed that it was indeed a Lesser Stream Crusier, the common name of this species. It was found at a small stream at Venus Drive perching on a hanging branch at eye level. As I recall, it is a large dragonfly about the size of Macromia cincta. It has a metallic greenish blue body with a distinct yellow band at the base of the 7th segment.

I wanted to take a dorsal view shot but the stream is very narrow and, even with my Canon 100mm macro lens, it was too close to include the whole dragonfly in the frame.

(Venus Drive – 28 Jan 2009)

The difficulty of positioning my tripod in the stream and my clumsiness scared away the dragonfly as it disappeared into the forest. I have not seen this species again since then. I am lucky to be one of the only 2 persons in Singapore to have seen this dragonfly.

Euphaea ochracea (Malaysia Species)

In Singapore, there are 2 damselfly species under the family of Euphaeidae (Satinwings) namely Dysphaea dimidiata and Euphaea impar.  In Peninsular Malaysia, there is another species known as the Euphaea ochracea.

My first sighting was a single male at a small clear flowing stream in Endau Rompin State Park.  It was very skittish that I didn’t get any shot of it.  I saw another male a few months later at a relatively big stream near Mt Ophir.    This time, I managed some record shots.

It was only in Gunung Belumut last year where we saw quite a no. of this species.  The males prefer to perch on rocks or logs just above clear flowing water.

(A male perching on a rock surrounded by fast flowing water)

When they perch in such a manner, it is harder to photograph as one would need to go very low to get a eye-level shot. Also, the face of the damselfly would often look downward in the frame which is not nice to view. Hence, I would search for one that perch on a twig or falling branches as shown below.

(Euphaea ochracea, male)

The male has a distinctive golden brown/red body and wings making it very easy to recognise. I was lucky to spot a younger male where it has yellow markings on its thorax similar to that of the female. The wings are less golden than the mature male.

(Euphaea ochracea, younger male)

The female is less common than the male. I have only seen them in Gunung Belumut so far. Unlike the male, the female doesn’t perch so low and hardly on rock. They are often seen perching at least knee-level high on twigs or falling branches. Photographing the female is relatively easier than the male.

(Euphaea ochracea, female)

We have seen the younger male earlier, let us take a look at an aged female which has paler colour.

(Euphaea ochracea, aged female)

Since the female are less commonly found, I can’t resist to take a portrait of it.

(A smiling Portrait of a female, Euphaea ochracea)

The next time I see this beautiful damselfly again, I plan to take a portrait shot of the male. My wish is to photograph a mating pair!

Dragonfly (43) – Macromia cincta

Family : Corduliidae
Common Name : Stream Cruiser
Status : Rare
Location : Lornie Trail

According to the Book on Dragonflies of Singapore, this is a huge dragonfly which can be seen flying along forest trails near swampy areas.  It is a rare species which is knowm to be found at MacRitchie Resevior. They have beautiful bluish-green eyes and there is an unmistakable whitish band on the side of its thorax.

(Lornie Trail – 20 Jan 2011)

I was glad to spot this dragonfly hanging on a tree branch when I went with 2 friends for odonata hunting at Lornie Trail yesterday.  The eyes of this dragonfly are more bluish in colour and my guess was that it should be a female which was later correctly confirmed by Mr Tang.  It was quite cooperative and I managed to take both the dorsal and side views.  Unfortunately the sunlight was harsh and I couldn’t get a good shot of the dorsal view ie. the bright branch in the background is quite distracting.

Having said that, I am still happy with what I have as it is my first dragonfly post in 2011!

(Side view)

Dragonfly (42) – Pornothemis starrei

Family : Libelluidae
Common Name : Mangrove Marshal
Status : Rare
Location : Punggol Forest

According to the Singapore Dragonflies Book, this is a rare mangrove dragonfly species spotted only at Pulau Ubin, Mandai & Lim Chu Kang.  The male has a black thorax & abdomen with dull greenish blue eyes. Females are said to have olive-coloured thorax.

(Male – Punggol Forest, 13 Nov 2010)

During this morning’s macro outing with many of my friends at Punggol forest, we were lucky to spot 2 males at a small muddy stream.   The surrounding was quite dark and this species preferred to perch lowly just above the water making it difficult to shoot.  Fortunately, it was quite cooperative allowing us to take some record shots.From the dorsal view, it looks like a bigger version of Chalybeothemis fluviatilis.  I hope I did not identify this species wrongly.

(Dorsal view – 13 Nov 2010)

Dragonfly (42) – Orchithemis Pruinans

Family : Libelluidae
Common Name : Blue Sentinel
Status : Rare
Location : Upper Peirce Forest

This is a rare forest species which prefers to perch under shaded areas.  The male has dark thorax and abdomen.  Abdominal segments 2-4 are powdery bluish-white.  It looks very similar to the dark form of male Orchithemis Pulcherrima except that O. Pruinans is slighter larger and its abdomen is thinner and longer.  The white marking of O. Pulcherrima covers only the second and third segments of its abdomen. The female is said to be brown in colour which has not been recorded in Singapore.

(Male – Upper Peirce, 20 Sep 2010)

This male was spotted recently at Upper Peirce forest.  I have originally thought that it was an uncommon dark form male O. Pulcherrima, which I was glad to add to my collection.  Little did I know that it was actually a rare O. Pruinans making me even happier!  It is an easy subject to photograph as it stays at the fixed spot for a long period.  Even if it flew away, it would return or perch very nearby.  The only problem is the poor lighting as it always choose a shaded area to perch.  I saw quite a no. of them around the vincinity but I am unsure whether they were O. Pulcherrima or O. Pruinans now.

(Side view – Upper Peirce, 20 Sep 2010)

Reference : A photographic guide on Dragonflies of Singapore.