An Afternoon With The Vestalis!

It had rained in the morning.

So... there goes my plan for the day, I thought.  Nevertheless, I was quite happy to stay indoors with a good book and stay dry and nice on days when I don't have to get all drenched in the rain like when I am working in the outdoors.

Contrary to what the weather forecast had said, rain in the morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon, the sun did come out much later in the day.  I was feeling rather lazy by then and was a bit reluctant to get moving but an opportunity to go looking for dragonflies is something I seldom resist!

The first creature to greet me was a Vestalis damselfly.  And as it turned out, this is one of the rare days with encounters of more than a dozen Vestalis damselflies!  Perhaps even a score... I had lost count!

Not only that, even though I had just missed witnessing a pair in wheel, I did get the chance to observe the behaviour of an ovipositing pair.

The male Vestalis gracilis damselfly was guarding the female throughout the ovipositing process, which took over fifteen minutes to complete.

The female damselfly took her time, carefully ovipositing her eggs into the grass stems at several different spots in the flowing water.

The male damselfly would be nearby the whole time.  Sometimes perched right next to her and keeping a lookout while at other times keeping a watchful eye on the female.

Once the oviposition was completed, both damselflies flew away in different directions to perch in different places.

I would have taken tons of photos but it was not easy.  The female would be perched on a grass stem that is quivering in the ripple of the stream.  With the slight breeze, she would also be quavering and almost swaying from side to side while she is ovipositing her eggs.  Add to that, my hands were shaky in my haste to capture the moment as fast as I could in case I missed it.  Arrrgh!

Finally, I did calm down enough to get a few shots that good enough!

After that, I did come across another pair of Vestalis damselflies in the midst of their courtship dance and sat down to watch and wait.  During this time, the female damselfly stopped momentarily to perch only once and the dancing would continue again.

But it was not meant to be.  After about thirty minutes, both damselflies went their separate ways.  Perhaps it had been just tedious.  Or perhaps because night would be approaching soon.

But, besides the Vestalis damselflies, I have another two species to add to my checklist!

What a great day indeed!

Holding Your Breath

 

The current Southwest monsoon season can be a bit of a damper for dragonfly excursions.  Sometimes. 

Some days start out nice and sunny in the morning but the weather suddenly changes.  It then starts raining and the sky is overcast for most of the day after that.  Sometimes, the weather would be really nice but I would be tied up with work and other stuff instead.

Also, I have to admit to being a bit lazy sometimes, not wanting to do anything at all, even on a day when it is really nice but maybe a bit too hot as I have already been out in the sun quite enough during the week.

Ahhh... humans!  We are such complaining souls!  Without the sun and the rain, we would not have this beautiful, big blue marble!

Anyway, I have been wanting to share with you an observation about the ovipositing behaviour of these damselflies but for some reason, I have been putting it off till now.  These damselflies are of the Pseudagrion spp, Pseudagrion australasiae if I am correct.

There was this one afternoon a few months ago when I was at this pond filled with murky-looking stagnant water.  Yet, it was buzzing with activities. 

It's like there's been a mass wedding! 

There were lots of dragonflies and damselflies flying around.  A few were in tandem and in wheel, and even more were ovipositing in the pond.

With the P. australasiae, the male is in tandem or contact guarding while the female oviposits.  The reason for this behaviour is to ensure that the female can complete laying the eggs that have been fertilized with his sperm. 

In most species of dragonflies and damselfies, both the males and females may mate repeatedly.  Therefore, due to sperm competition, the males maintain tandem contact to prevent other males from displacing their sperm from the female damselfly before ovipositing is complete.  Contact guarding during oviposition also increases the probability of the female laying a complete clutch of eggs.

Sometimes, other male damselflies may attempt to disengage a pair in tandem to disrupt the copulation or oviposition process, clamoring to be her next suitor.

What do you think the male damselfly would do?

 

Here's a pair of damselfly with the male in tandem guarding during oviposition.

 

There was another male damselfly hovering around, so the female was pushed deeper into the pond.

 

And they kept going deeper till the female is now completely submerged.

 

As the place was still buzzing, they kept descending.

 

Until the male is also submerged and the female can now oviposit in peace.

 

This must be a favourite spot for these damselflies... another pair of damselflies started ovipositing here as well.

 

That female damselfly was submerged for quite a few minutes.  Most people can't even hold their breath underwater for that long!

Fascinating creatures!

 

 

Potamarcha congener

I was on my way to the park entrance and was walking past a row of parked cars, most of them with the windscreen wipers all standing up.  This practice of lifting the wipers off the glass and leaving it standing up is based on the belief that it will prolong the lifespan of the wiper blades.

Anyway, I then realised there was a dragonfly perched on one of these windscreen wipers.

 

 

I looked further up along the row of parked cars and there were dragonflies there too.

 

 

So I turned around to look at the ones I had walked past and there was a dragonfly on almost every windscreen wiper as well. 

 

 

I have been keeping an eye out for insects and birds, looking at trees and shrubs but not at these cars and that's where all the dragonflies are perched.  I just had to laugh then!

Each and every dragonfly perched on these wiper blades is the Potamarcha congener of the family Libellulidae.  The male has hindwing length of 33-34 mm.  It has blue pruinescence on its thorax and base of its abdomen with parallel orange streaks on the distal part of the abdomen till S8.  This species is common in open, disturbed habitats and widespread in tropical Asia.

 

 

The female is brown and obscurely marked.

 

 

I had first come across this species over a year ago and do not recall why I have not mentioned it before. 

Anyway, in recent weeks, I have been seeing lots of these dragonflies in many places.  I have seen quite a few pairs in wheel but could never get the chance to get any photos.  These dragonflies would be in wheel position and in flight for barely a minute and they would be out of it before you can even take a snap.

The female would then oviposit into the water by flipping the tip of its abdomen at various spots to scatter the fertilised eggs in the water while the male hovers overhead keeping guard.  The male dragonfly will chase away every dragonfly that comes near the female.

This female dragonfly was ovipositing into the pond.

 

 

There were certainly a lot of these dragonflies perched everywhere, mostly in high places.

 

 

 

Talking About The Blues!

 

There was this one afternoon when there were quite a few mating pairs of Pseudagrion australasiae at the pond and I had a great day taking lots of photos of these damselflies in tandem, in wheel and ovipositing.

The Pseudagrion australasiae of the family Coenagrionidae is very similar to the P. microcephalum in a lot of ways but it is slightly larger.  The P. australasiae has hindwing length of 20 mm and can be distinguished by the marking on S10 and by its appendages.  This species is widely distributed in the Indo-Australian region.

It was quite cool just to watch all of them and learn a bit more about the behaviours of these damselflies.

 

A pair of Pseudagrion australasiae in tandem before going into wheel position.

 

A pair in wheel.

 

Two pairs of P. australasiae, one in wheel and the other in tandem.

 

Two pairs in tandem with the male in contact guarding while the female oviposits into the grassy pond.

 

And I will write about some of the observed behaviours another day.

 

 

Spreadwings In Wheel

It is quite a rare occasion for me to spot two different species of the Lestidae family at the same location in one morning.  I was elated.

Hence, spotting the Spreadwing damselfies in wheel had me jumping for joy.

Literally speaking.

I did not actually jump for joy in the physical sense in case these damselflies take off in flight and I miss the opportunity for a few photos.  Otherwise I would have.

And although I did not manage to get the best photos of these damselflies in wheel position or the "Photo Of The Year" as I like to call it, it was still good to have managed to get a few shots. 

The difficulty was in getting a good angle for the shoot while at the same time trying not to disturb the damselflies and scare them away.  And then there's all the grasses that got in the way of getting a good view.....

Here is the pair of Lestes praemorsus in wheel position.

 

 

I was lucky to have spotted them when I did because I had time for just a few shots before they broke off from the wheel position but remained in tandem.

 

 

Soon after that, the female damselfly started ovipositing into the grassy pond with the male damselfly in contact guarding until the last of the fertilized eggs have been laid.

 

 

I am happy to have had the chance to observe this behaviour of this damselfy species.

 

 

To read more about this damselfly and for more photos, click on 'Lestes' in the Tags below.

 

 

A Tie For Top Spot!

These two pics of the Copera ciliata remain favourites!  And I like both pics just as much.

 

A pair of Copera ciliata in tandem while the female oviposits into the flower of the Utricularia aurea or Golden Bladderwort.

 

The same pair of Copera ciliata, still in tandem, with the female ovipositing into the muddy pond, creating a mirror image.

 

Click here or on "copera" in the tag below to read more about this damselfly in earlier entries.

 

 

Diplacodes trivialis In Wheel And Ovipositing

Came across this pair of Diplacodes trivialis in wheel recently.

 

 

I couldn't get any closer for more photos as they kept flying away. 

Anyway, once the copulation was complete, the female flew over to a grassy patch on the pond and oviposited here eggs there on her own.  The male was nowhere to be seen at that time.

 

 

I hope to get more photos of this species in wheel one of these days.

 

 

In Wheel And Ovipositing - Copera ciliata

I decided to do a stake-out at one of the ponds this morning.  I have been thinking... if I sit there long enough and keep watch, I would eventually observe something happening, right? 

This theory have been proven true once again.  Towards the end of the stake-out, which actually lasted more than 3 hours, I had to put up with some discomfort from a full bladder but it was certainly well worth it.  After all, the saying that holding back will cause your full bladder to explode is really only a myth.

The stake-out was fruitful and as you can guess, I've got myself more photos of dragonflies and damselflies to add to my collection so I am rather pleased with the whole thing.

Actually, I was hoping to get a shot of the Tholymis tillarga that I have seen patrolling tirelessly at the pond but that did not happen.  Eventually, my focus went to the Copera ciliata instead.  I had posted some info and photos of this species in an earlier article, read it here.

Anyway, here's a photo of the Copera ciliata perched on a grass leaf that is still wet with dew this morning.

 

 

I did not see how it all started but all of a sudden there was this pair of Copera ciliata in wheel right in front of me, so I took tons of photos of them.  Although it was not mentioned in the Pocket Guide, I now know that the female has similar markings to the male and it looks to me that the female is more whitish in colour.  The next photo shows a pair of Copera ciliata in copula.

 

 

And then I sat and waited again.  After quite some time, having finished receiving the sperm pouch from the male to fertilise her eggs, the female straightened out her abdomen but the pair of Copera ciliata continued to remain in tandem for ages and they remained perch in the same place.

 

 

Perhaps due to activities of other dragonflies buzzing around, the tandem pair then flew away to perch on another grass leaf and this happened a few times.

 

 

After that, it was only the female damselfly who would perch while the male damselfly kept his hold on her and remained overhead to guard her.  But all they did was fly and perch, then fly and perch.

 

 

Eventually, while still in tandem, the female started ovipositing her eggs when she stopped at a perch.  The male kept his hold on her and was contact guarding the female all the time throughout the whole process.

 

 

Ovipositing occurred at various locations dispersed over a small area of the pond.  The female damselfly oviposited both into the grass stems above the water and also into the grassy pond.

After that, I lost them.

Even then, I am glad to have observed the wheel position and ovipositing behaviour of these damselflies.  It has certainly made my day!

 

 

Orthetrum testaceum In Wheel And Ovipositing

I am at a lost.....  well, actually, I am lost for choice!

And that is because even as I start writing this, I have not decided as yet on which odonate species to write about.  There are so many different species I could write about and so many thoughts and observations that I would like to put down in writing.

I guess I will start with the last things I captured yesterday so that brings us to the Orthetrum testaceum of the family Libellulidae, which is one of the species of red dragonflies that are common and widespread in this region and usually found in abundance in most places.

I was lucky to chance upon a pair of Orthetrum testaceum in wheel, sat around to observe their behaviour and got a few shots in the process.

Here's the first shot I got of this pair...

 

 

From this angle, it would have been easy to miss the second set of wings belonging to the female that's just dangling there as it had looked like just the male dragonfly perched as usual on a twig.  The pair flew off after that when I tried to get closer for a second photo but I managed to get more photos of them later at another perch.

 

 

Based on observation, I have noted a pair of Orthetrum testaceum being in copula or wheel position for about ten minutes.  So I waited.  This next photo shows the male letting go of his hold on the female...

 

 

He then flies off while the female remain perched on the twig to compose herself.  After that, she takes off to oviposit her eggs by plunging the tip of her abdomen in the water, rapidly making several dips and splashes in the water at various different spots.  The male hovered close to her all the time to guard her and prevent other males from capturing her while she completes laying all her fertilised eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have always said that it would not be easy to photograph these dragonflies in wheel as they usually take off at speed while in tandem.  Perhaps the hot weather increased my chances of observing them on this day.  I would never know.  And perhaps it would have been impossible for some other species.  But probably just being at the right place at the right time would make a huge difference to everything too!

That was quite a great day! 

 

 

Another Blue Damselfly

Since the padi fields have been flooded, I have found another haunt for my 'hunting'.  And it is also not far from home.  This is a pond with slow moving water, almost stagnant, and there are also grassy areas in the pond.  Another perfect spot for quite a few species of dragonflies and damselflies.

I had a field day!

 

 

This blue damselfly is the Pseudagrion microcephalum of the family Coenagrionidae.  I actually came across this damselfly a few months ago at another grassy pond but it was a large pond there and I could not get close enough for a good photo.  Even here in this small pond, I was still straining, but at least I can now get a good look at this damselfly.

The Pseudagrion microcephalum has hindwing length of 18mm and can be found on drains and ponds.  The females have patterns of olive green, pale blue and black and this species is actually widespread in the Indo-Australian tropics.  It has a paler blue compared to the Prodasineura laidlawii, so it is not as striking in colour but not less of a beauty anyway.

I did not see any mating pair in wheel position but I did come across a pair in tandem as they remain perched on a grass stalk after copulation.  Later, they flew about looking for a spot for the female to lay her eggs.

 

 

While flying in tandem looking for a suitable place for oviposition, I actually observed another male damselfly of the same species come near to this pair.  A short chase then ensued to get this intruder away while the pair still remained in tandem.

Finally, having found the right spot, the female proceeded to lay her eggs.  The male damselfly of this species engaged in contact guarding of the female in that the pair remained in tandem after copulation and during oviposition.

 

 

You can see from the photo above that the head of the female damselfly was barely just above the waterline while she oviposited into some grass stem in the pond.  At some point, she was completely dunked into the water and I could only watch in horror and amazement at the same time.

 

 

In the photo above, only the folded wings of the female damselfly could be seen out of the water.  Her whole head and body had been completely dunked into the pond during oviposition.

Seeing is believing.....

Anyway, you can see from some photos of odonata that these dragonflies and damselflies have tiny hairs on their heads and bodies.  And I have since learned that there are some species of odonata where the female would dive under the water's surface to oviposit.  These tiny hairs create a pocket of air so they would still be able to breathe while underwater, long enough to complete oviposition.

Amazing creatures, aren't they?

 

 

A Damselfly Ovipositing

In an earlier entry, I had a pair of damselflies of the species Prodasineura laidlawii in tandem, with the male hovering above and still clasping the female while she oviposits or lay her eggs in the fast flowing stream.

Well, not all damselflies do that.  It depends on the species and, sometimes, the circumstances. 

In one extreme, the male and female remain in tandem while the female oviposits and one such species is the Prodasineura laidlawii. On the other extreme, there are species where the male will not be around at all and the female would lay her eggs on her own.  The Ischnura senegalensis is like that.

Once copulation is completed, the male damselfly of the Ischnura senegalensis will let go of the female and fly away to perch elsewhere.  The female will then fly off on her own to find a suitable egg-laying spot and proceed to oviposit.

This picture here shows a female damselfly of the Ischnura senegalensis ovipositing in a grassy pond.

 

 

And here is another female of the same species ovipositing in a pond in the padi fields.

 

 

After ovipositing, the female will then find a perch to rest, bearing the muddy stains on her abdomen, which is often a tell-tale sign that she has been laying eggs...

 

 

Why is it referred to as ovipositing, you may ask? 

This brings us to the structure of the odonate body.  As mentioned in an earlier article, the males have accessory genitalia on the underside of the second segment (S2) of the abdomen.  The males also have superior and inferior anal appendages or claspers that emerge from the tip of the abdomen (S10), which is the last segment. 

Females odonates generally have shorter and stouter abdomens compared to their male counterparts and there is only a superior pair of appendages.  Females of some species have a sharp lance-like ovipositor on the underside towards the end of the abdomen, which is used to insert eggs into plant stems, rotting wood, wet soil or other plant materials.  While those of other species may have special flanges or non-functional ovipositors so there exists many different egg-laying strategies with different species of dragonflies and damselflies. 

Nevertheless, due to this structure in the female, when it dips its abdomen into the water or plants or roots to lay its eggs, it is referred to as oviposition.