Trips of finding Echo maxima Martin, 1904, mystery of mysteries

My first field trip with Matti Hamalainen was conducted in 2006 with two main purposes: show him the habitat of Rhinocypha orea, the species was described by him and Haruki Karube but I saw its population in nature one year before their publication appear, and the male of Echo maxima.

Matti helped me very much on my first new species on editing and providing the specimen of Davidius frushtoferi from Thailand to compare and he want me helped him to see some Caloptera in nature.

For the first purpose, it seems not be hard, because I took Matti to the right place that I saw the population of R. orea and that time we recorded a male that came down to the stream in the sun light.

Habitat of R. orea in Tam Dao, the stream under the main Town very clean and covered by forest (photo taken in 2004, as I found a good number population of R. orea).

However, up to now, the original habitat of R. orea has changed very much, since the last time I saw the single male with Matti, no more specimen of this species been recorded. The main stream already be polluted seriously and a large part of the forest has been chop down for agriculture land.

But the second purpose was not easy, from the label of the holotype of female Echo maxima in Paris, the locality is Than Moi, Tonkin. Than Moi is wrong name of “Than Muoi” village, a place around Chi Lang, Lang Son, North Vietnam. “Tonkin” is French name of Vietnamese “Dong Kinh”, and it covers almost provinces of North Vietnam. I don’t know how to express the feeling as we were in Chi Lang, we went to Lang Son by train then took a taxi to go back Chi Lang, where located on the way to Lang Son. We tried to find something that did fly in a forest about 100 years ago, but all we saw is a dirty town with polluted air as well as water... Matti still keep the photo of the name board of locality, it is small town next to the railway and of course no more forests there. We spent a night at that town with emptiness thinking. The question is: where and how we can see the male of the species as its type habitat had been absolutely destroyed. It means that the species “Echo maxima” now maybe known from the only female specimen in Paris or from a short description by Martin in 1904. E. maxima is maybe a largest Caloptera of the world.

From Chi Lang, we went to Loc Binh near Mau Son area with hope to see some forest areas. We tried to search all the streams in Loc Binh but after some days, we decided not come back the area again, nothing interesting. I still remember that we did sit in front of a school after a hot day, began to say about each other life, no more Echo maxima discussion. We finished the trip for Echo maxima this year with no hoping of the success.

Two year later, Matti again asking me to go for finding the rare species "maxima", he showed me a map from google earth, where only Huu Lien is green and there maybe some good forests in Lang Son. We carried out the first trip to Huu Lien with hoping about the unclear species. We search all possible habitat of the area but no information about the "maxima". However in that trip, I found an undescribed species of Nihonogomphus that I made the description with Haruki Karube later in 2011, the species Nihonogomphus schorri. In this trip, a younger fellow joined us to Huu Lien and it was first trip of Odonatology, he then be strongly interested in Calopterygidae after that.

In the first trip to Huu Lien, we did swim with some buffaloes every day

Matti sends me today the photos that taken by him, it is a fake photo by combination from two photos, the name of photo by Matti "Cuong meets a friend" and he wrote: "Not much fake in the photo. The camera data these two photos show that the photos were taken within the same 60 seconds. The buffalo was only 10 m away".

I don't believe him, I post this photo in case Matti publish it without mention it is a fake photo. All of the photos in this post are true except this one, a made photo!

I was trying to take a photo of Nihonogomphus (below photo) but Matti was very annoying nearby for searching Caloptera

Female of Nihonogomphus schorri Do & Karube, 2011 (Photographed by Cuong Do from type locality)

We went back no "maxima" one more time, the year after that year, Matti and Toan came back Huu Lien again without me, but no more information about the Calopteryx.

In 2010, Matti again wanted to visited and searched for the last area that be described by local people, the only site that we never been before with the last hope about finding of "maxima". That year, we added one more member of entomologist, Nguyen Quang Thai, who will be an specialist of Vietnamese Lucanidae 2 years later. That time he joined the trip for studying parasites (mites). We tried to get the study site, as the description by local people, it is a good forest that be isolated by range of limestone mountain. It take about 1 day walking to the study site, we clam up to the mountain and get down to a valley where we going to do the field survey. The true was not same to our hope, no more forest in the area at all, we spend 1 night with a party of thousands and thousands mosquitoes around. The hot summer day just made us be tired and take a bath in a dirty stream nearby many times.

In the "hotel Maxima", named by Matti Hamalainen, it was a true hut used by the local people for taking care they castles. At night, thousands visitors (mosquitoes) come for the big party. During the day, we got free sauna, terrible hot, then we did swim with buffaloes, not for cleaning but for reducing of body temperature.

No more hope, we moved back hardly to the center of Huu Lien and did some survey works in the best forest near the place where Matti found a new species that then he named it after me, Platycnemis doi Hamalainen, 2012. This species now move to a new genus Matticnemis. The genus be named after Matti. So name of both of us have been set together in a one species, taxonomy to be not only a game of science workers, but it is a indicator of a friendship.

On the way going down, we visited the habitat of Matticnemis doi

Matticnemis doi (Hamalainen, 2012) from type locality (Photographed by Matti Hamalainen in the original description).

Swimming in Huu Lien, Nguyen Quang Thai and Matti Hamalainen in a hot summer day (after this trip, Nguyen Quang Thai began his study on Lucanidae of Vietnam). Much more better swimming in this situation.

So the trip ending with no "maxima" but not bad result, 2 new species Nihonogomphus schorri and Matticnemis doi, additional we have a unforgettable memories. Thai learned many experience and one of them from Matti Hamalainen, keeping beer be cool in hot summer day, they did drink beer from a wet used sock... terrible for me but they seem were very happy that time.

Dung beetles collecting in Tam Dao

My first dung beetles collecting in Tam Dao National Park

The idea to do a first collecting trip this year (2014) gave by a Czech Collector of beetles. The weather now still cold with some rain of the spring. I never have done any field trip in this season and it sound crazy because of no flying insects this time. 
Miguel suggested to do a dung finding trip and he promised that we can see some scarab beetles as scarabaeinae or geotrupidae.

Tam Dao forest in rainy day

Well, I can't wait for more than a month and we agreed to arrange a trip to Tam Dao to see what is happening in this season. And it is not bad idea if some one invite you something difference, this case is "shit party", what ever it be called, we will try it at least one time. We arrived at the bottom of Tam Dao mountain in middle of the day, a cloudy and rainy day, everything wet and never same to any insect collecting day I tried before. It was cold enough to keep all the insects not flying on the way we go up, and we need to find a "good" dung of cow. A "good dung" is understood as a dung with 2 days old, it must not too fresh but not too old.

The first dung be found near the main road, up to the town of Tam Dao, at middle of the drain, showed by Quang Thai, a Lucanid researcher, this is also the first "dung" trip for him. His face look quite happy as be first person who found the object, Miguel looked at the "dung" near Thai's position and said that "it is too fresh". Well, in a rainy day, I wonder how he can know which is a fresh or not fresh shit of a cow, what ever I believed him and maybe it was not only one cow dung in Tam Dao, of course I also don't want check that kind of thing if Miguel be true, "fresh dung", it is not "fresh air" or "fresh water", not really good feeling.


We continued the trip and again, Thai informed us about another shit, it be on the ground this time, the dung was decorated with some plantations and fugues.  

 

The second dung before the operation with nature shape

Because due to the time, dung to be so rare and we decided to check the content of the new discovery, the dung look maybe too old because the color changed and grass and fugues already appear around. Indeed, no mature form of beetle be found, they already done the eggs laying and one of them had hatched with evidence of one larva in side. 

The second finding with a single larva in the middle of "too old dung"

Then finally we found a very very good place with about 20 dungs around, and because the large number, the possibility of  "good dung" to be very high. At the first searching, of of horned scarab beetle be found between the layer of feces and ground. All the people be happy very much with the cow's product, the beetles just come for their next generations. I read about dung beetles collecting but not the thing that I done today, not too fresh but still smelling and the felling is not same to my feeling in the past as collecting insects. 

Dragonflies found very colorful and fresh, shinning in the clean water areas; light trap is hard work but no smelling, fruit trap for butterflies and centoniinae is not easy for breathing but it much more better than cow shit.

One of the first discovery, and very "fresh" also! Copris sinicus identified by Denis Keith

I also tried with one of them but this is not really easy work

Sometime for this kind of small beetle, you need to dig a whole shit

But 2 hours working is not really hard if the result be showed (only one serious worker, Miguel).

Some of them quite special, as this horned beetle, it look not like its smell after cleaning...
Liatongus vertagus identified by Denis Keith

 

A Geotrupidae

And two yellow spots beetles (I wonder what the color spots for if they just in side of the dung)

Not only scarab beetles, a staphylinidae also be found, maybe special one

It was a really not bad result in a cloudy and rainy cold day, though you still can see some Erycaceae or Theaceae flowers:

Small bug in side of Erycaceae in Tam Dao

A red theaceae, very attractive food of horn rutelinae (Fruhstorferia anthraciana)

So the dung beetles are still good looking without the fact that they live and eat bad smelling things; without them, maybe this world is just a big shit. 

And before to shake a hand of entomotlogist just come back from the field, don't forget asking him what insect group that he is studying, be careful with some coleopterists, just say Hello some time is more than enough....