Echo – January 2007

ECHO focuses on odonate research in tropical Asia. All those interested and active in this region are invited to contribute. Contributions should be stimulating, informal, entertaining and preferably not too long. The deadline for the next Echo is the first of May 2007. Contributions should be sent to Vincent Kalkman (Kalkman@naturalis.nl).

Matti Hämäläinen wrote that the book “NEUROBASIS AND MATRONOIDES: THE METALWING DEMOISELLES OF THE EASTERN TROPICS (ODONATA: CALOPTERYGIDAE)” by Matti Hämäläinen and Albert G. Orr will be published jointly by the Brothers of Saint Gabriel in Thailand (Bangkok) and World Caloptera Collection (Espoo) in January 2007. This hard cover book is in A4 format, with 81 pages and reviews in detail all aspects of the biology of Metalwings, those calopterygids famously termed by M.A. Lieftinck, ‘the Birds of Paradise among dragonflies’. It provides a full taxonomic revision of the group and detailed descriptions of all known species. Other topics covered include general biology, behaviour and ecology, historical biogeography, and the physical basis of iridescent colour in the male hindwings. One chapter is devoted to the history of discovery of and nomenclature of Metalwings, including portraits of persons of note in the history of the group.

The book includes 20 colour plates, of which 9 are superb watercolour drawings of the Metalwing species by Bert Orr, similar in style but of higher quality than those in his previous books, such as ‘Dragonflies of Borneo’, with at least one specimen per plate with both pairs of wings figured. Other plates include photographs of several species in nature, habitats and historical artwork. The book includes 74 black and white figures, photographs and pen and ink drawings.  The price of the book is ca 30 Euro (net in Thailand). It will be available from various booksellers in Europe, Japan and elsewhere. In North America it will be available via The  International Odonata Research  Institute, IORI.  It is anticipated that a copy will be on display at the forthcoming WDA Symposium in Namibia. The edition is limited to 400 copies only, so do not wait too long before placing your order.

Rory Dow: I was collecting in Sarawak from late February to April of 2006, Graham Reels joined me for two shorter periods. This was a very fruitful trip that yielded a number of poorly known species, new records for Sarawak and unnamed species. I am in the process of describing some of the new species now, with various collaborators. One of the highlights for me was a few days spent at Binyo Penyilam, a large peatswamp forest in the Bintulu area, where gomphids were actually abundant and easy to find on the Sg. Penyilam (in Sarawak gomphids are normally very elusive); five species were collected in a short time, including the first Merogomphus to be recorded in Sarawak. Another highlight, for which Graham was present, was an attempt to relocate some of the Mount Dulit endemics discovered by the 1932 Oxford University Expedition and described by Kimmins in 1936. The Dulit area is a very difficult one in which to work, one is almost entirely cut off from the outside world, entirely dependant on the local Kenyah people in most respects, and a disturbingly long time away from medical treatment, if needed. Unfortunately we failed in our main goal, because we could find no one living at the foot of the mountain who knew a way up past about 500m, despite promises to the contrary. However we collected useful material at the foot and on the lower slopes of the mountain, including four species from the Platystictidae. The Oxford expedition collected six platystictids at Dulit (of two of these only females were collected, which remain undescribed); only one of these was included in our collection, so that nine species of this family have already been recorded from Mt. Dulit. A final highlight, in my last two days in Sarawak, was the discovery of a small colony of Bornargiolestes nigra Kimmins, 1936 (described from Dulit, one of the most poorly known species recorded from Borneo) at Kubah National Park near Kuching. I will be returning to Sarawak in 2007, but unfortunately I am very unlikely to be able to go for such a long period as I did in 2006.
In July I attended the SIO meeting in Hong Kong, and the excellent post-meeting field trip to South China. I went on to Chiang Mai in Thailand for a couple of weeks afterwards, where I was fortunate enough to find Noguchiphaea yoshikoae Asahina, 1976 and other rarities.
Sometime ago Graham and I announced that we would be producing a fieldguide to the Odonata of North Borneo; this is on hold at present, for a variety of reasons, but we are working on the first of a series of booklets, to be produced in cooperation with the Sarawak Forestry Corporation, on the Odonata of various national parks in Sarawak. The first booklet covers Kubah National Park, and will include 60+ species. We still intend to produce the fieldguide, but not for a few years.

Vincent Kalkman: In July 2006 I stayed for five weeks in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. I went there together with Hans Huijbregts, who works on dung beetles, on invitation of the Cenderahwasih university. This university has an active entomology department but lacks expertise on many taxonomic groups. Our ‘job’ was to present lectures on our taxonomic groups and train local students in collecting, preserving and identifying insects. Most of our time was spent on Yapen, an island of approximately 140by 40km in the bay (Teluk Cenderawasih) east of the Birdhead Peninsula. During my time there I managed to collect about 60 species. The island has been attached to the mainland in times with a lower sea level and it is therefore no surprise that the fauna is largely the same as that of northern New Guinea. The material will be published in a paper on the dragonflies of the islands of the Teluk Cenderawasih together with material collected by students on the islands of Biak and Numfor.
One week was spent in the central mountain range of the New Guinea in the village of Borne (about 1000m asl), a village which could only be reached by plane and does not seem to exist on maps. Genera encountered here include for instance Lochmaecocnemis, Idiocnemis, Paramecocnemis, Torrenticnemis (only females) all belonging to platycnemids-genera endemic for of New Guinea. For my own group, the megapodagrionids, the trip produced only three species of Argiolestes. This is not much considering the fact that 32 species are known from New Guinea. The good thing is that I now have a good reason to go back.

Interesting behaviour by Podolestes chrysopus Selys, 1886 – Rory Dow

Whilst investigating an area of remnant secondary peatswamp forest by the Matang Road, near Kuching in Sarawak, with Graham Reels in January 2006, I observed some interesting behaviour by Podolestes chrysopus. As this behaviour does not seem to have recorded before, I give a brief account below, on Vincent Kalkman’s suggestion.
Mature males of P. chrysopus have red legs, but this colour does not show well in specimens, or in the flash lit photographs I have of the species. Late in the afternoon of January 23rd I entered a small tree fall clearing at the location mentioned above. My eye was caught by a flash of red at the edge of the clearing, about 10 feet away. On investigating I found a male chrysopus whose legs were luridly red, perched on the end of a stick. Two less mature males were perched in the vicinity, their legs were a reddish brown. As I watched one of the immature males flew up and made an attempt to perch on the same stick as the mature male. The mature male immediately took to the air, hovered in front of the intruder and held his legs forward, displaying their colour in the way that some chlorocyphids do. The intruder immediately fled.

Dragonflies of the Malagos Watershed area, Davao City, Philippines – Reagan Villanueva

During a sampling trip to Missamis Oriental, Mindanao, Philippines in 2004, I found an adult male and a teneral female of an undescribed Teinobasis species. According to Matti Hamalainen, a single unverified/unidentified species of Teinobasis is recorded in Eagle Camp, Malagos, Davao City Philippines.  He also provided me with the list of twelve species recorded for the area based on the Ronald Muller’s odonate collection (now in RMNH, Leiden). The said list includes one undescribed species and one of which was described by Jan van Tol as recent as 2005.
Based on this information I conducted several field trips in the period March 2005 to July 2006. I selected only a small portion of the Malagos Watershed area base on its accessibility. The sites comprise of two forest streams approximately 20 meters apart, and explored about 30 meters stretch of each stream.
The study reveals at least 20 additional species for the area. Unfortunately, the species that initiate this study remains elusive and no new material was found. The gomphids fauna is interesting as two species were found in the first stream and the other two in second stream. The rest of the species were present in both streams. Amphicnemis spp is also interesting as it shows seasonal population density variation.
I visited only a small portion of the watershed and future exploration of the other sites will probably reveal a more diverse odonate fauna.

List of species found at the Malagos Watershed area, Davao City, Philippines