Harpegnathos venator (Smith, 1858)

Harpegnathos venator (Smith, 1858) is large size ant, it is the first time the species was recorded for Vietnamese fauna. The species found from India, China, Thailand and also Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo. The holotype of the species is deposited in London Museum of Nature History. In Vietnam, this species was recorded the first time by Nguyen Huu Le Loc from Van Quan, Lang Son Province, North Vietnam.

Harpegnathos venator (Smith, 1858) - photographed by Nguyen Huu Le Loc

Stichophthalma suffusa tonkiana Fruhstofer, 1901

The taxon Stichophthalma suffusa tonkiana Fruhstofer, 1901 is a very complicated history during its discovery. The type of the subspecies was found from Than Moi, Tonkin (in original description) = Than Muoi, Lang Son Province, North Vietnam. However today, Than Muoi Village maybe not been the habitat of the taxon anymore because deforestation in whole the lowland of the area. Now they also was found from Tam Dao National Park, Vinh Phuc Province.
The subspecies was described as a subspecies of Stichophthalma howqua, a species that with type found from Shang Hai, East China. The taxon suffusa was described as a subspecies of howqua in the original description by Leech, 1892. The publication of 2008 by Mornastyrskii and Deviatkin showed that suffusa with the type found from Omei Shan, China and howqua are distinguish species and they separated by dark pattern of  the hind wings on upper side. So the subspecies tonkiana that described by Fruhstofer in 1901 under the species S. howqua was moved to the species S. suffusa. However in the paper, authors also mentioned about further studies of subspecies level should be done in the future.
They are large size butterflies, and found in a good forests in North Vietnam, similar to other species of the genus, they are attracted by rotten fruits or animal dead body.

Stichophthalma suffusa tonkiana Fruhstofer, 1901 - upper side

Stichophthalma suffusa tonkiana Fruhstofer, 1901 - under side

Smerinthus szechuanus (Clark, 1938)

The species was described based on materials that collected from China, recently it was recorded also in North Vietnam.

Smerinthus szechuanus (Clark, 1938)

Priotyrannus closteroides (Thomson, 1877)

A quite common species that found in Indochina, they are high elevation forest insects that can be collected mainly by light trap. Small to medium size, the body covered with shining yellow hair.
Season of mature about May to July, they must be found in South China and Laos as well, they are not so common but locally there were not many individuals be observed. Male and female similar in shape.

Priotyrannus closteroides (Thomson, 1877), male

Protohermes grandis (Thunberg, 1781)

Protohermes grandis (Thunberg, 1781) is a colorful species of dobsolfly, belong to Megaloptera order. It is an aquatic insect that larvae live in the water, mainly clear streams. The mature with wings is attracted to the light. They are quite common species, found in Indochina, China, Taiwan and Japan.

A individual of Protohermes grandis (Thunberg, 1781) on the light trap sheet, Mau Son Mountain, elevation about 1500m 

Cheirotonus, Long arm beetles from Vietnam

Cheirotonus is a genus of Euchiridae or some author keep them in subfamily of Melolonthidae or subfamily Euchirinae of Scarabaeidae. Their English name is long arm beetle and in Vietnamese, they are called "Cua Bay" with meaning is flying craps, anyway, the name of the genus because of their very long fore legs. In Vietnam there are four species of the genus, three of them with mun-ti spots on the elytra: Cheirotonus battareli, Cheirotonus gestroi and Cheirotonus parryi and the remain with dark green elytra: Cheirotonus jansoni. 

The species Cheirotonus parryi is the first species that named for science of the genus, its name honor to Major Frederick John Sidney Parry who was a British Army Solder and an entomologist of Entomological Society of London and Linnae Society as well. He was an specialist of Coleoptera, particularly Lucanidae. In Vietnam the species Cheirotonus parryi  has been found from Southern Forests: Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai Province.

Male of Cheirotonus parryi with long medial spine of fore legs.

Two other yellow spotted elytra species is Cheirotonus battareli and Cheirotonus gestroi. The species Cheirotonus battareli have been found only from North Vietnam: Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Van Ban (Yen Bai), Tay Con Linh (Ha Giang), Mau Son (Lang Son), Pia Oac (Cao Bang), Tam Dao (Vinh Phuc), Pu Mat (Nghe An)... and the later species Cheirotonus gestroi maybe distributes in South Center of Vietnam: Kon Tum, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Lam Dong. They are very similar each other but difference from Cheirotonus parryi in the medial spine of fore legs (shorter). In Cheirotonus gestroi, the lobe of medial spine of fore femur without teeth but there are some teeth on it of Cheirotonus battareli. 

 

Male of Cheirotonus battareli

Male of Cheirotonus gestroi

In 1994, Muramoto published a paper with description of Cheirotonus fujiokai from China, near Vietnam border (Ha Giang Province). The question if Cheirotonus fujiokai can be found from Vietnam has not been answered, however this small size species very similar to Cheirotonus gestroi but difference from both Cheirotonus gestroi and Cheirotonus battareli in medio-lateral shallows depression of pronotum of male: in Cheirotonus fujiokai, the area just finely punctured but it is deeply punctured in two previous species. 

Male of Cheirotonus fujiokai (from original description)

Male of Cheirotonus jansoni

Atrocalopteryx auco Hamalainen, 2014

The species is described this year (2014) by Matti Hamalainen despite of the fact that we have seen it flying in nature since 2008.

In the field trip to Huu Lien, Lang Son Province, North Vietnam with the species author for finding Echo maxina, I saw that species in a source of the stream that I collected the species Nihonogomphus schorri. This is the third undescribed species be known to science in trips of Echo maxima, in Huu Lien, Lang Son (see the topic Trips of finding Echo maxima Martin, 1904, mystery of mysteries).

It is interesting that this unknown species be in Matti's collection quite long time but it only be focused since a fellow (Sebastien Delonglee) sent the author its photos from Huu Lien in 2013. In my photo gallery, I keep the photos in two separated folders: males in A. atrocyana and the female in A. coomani folders. I remember that I did take photos of the species among bamboos near the deep and clear stream that runs directly from limestone mountain. 

Matti Hamalainen as being informing the photos from Sebastien then found that it belong a distinguish species that difference from all known species then he described the species under the name: A. auco. He wrote in the etymological part of the description: "The species epithet auco is named after Âu Cơ, a character in the Vietnamese mythology. Âu Cơ was a young, beautiful mountain fairy who fell in love with Lạc Long Quân (the Dragon Lord of Lac). They married and she gave birth to an egg sac from which hatched a hundred children known collectively as the Bach Viet, the ancestors of the Vietnamese people. Âu Cơ is widely honoured as the mother of Vietnamese civilization." 

Before deciding the name of the species, Matti emailed to me about his idea of the name of the species and I did full agree with his very interesting idea, the colorful wings of this group matches very well to Âu Cơ, who is a pretty girl and she is well known to any Vietnamese people and this will make the species to be more familial to Vietnamese.

Male of A. auco (on a bamboo leaf above) photographed by Cuong Do, same date to the holotype in Huu Lien, Lang Son Province

Female of A. auco (among bamboos) with white pseudo-pterostigma that make I misidentified it to be A. coomani, photographed by Cuong Do, same date to the holotype in Huu Lien, Lang Son Province

Heliocypha perforata perforata (Percheron, 1835)

The black and cobalt-blue damselflies, they are similar to H. biforata generally. The triangle on mesepisternum on synthorax is smaller than it of Aritocypha fenestrela and there is a pink marking on the posterior edge of prothorax as well as on two sides of the synthorax. Thorax and abdomen are marked with white cobalt-bluish at lateral view. The mid and hind legs of male are black with white tibia. Same to H. biforata, wings of H. p. perforata are narrow in comparing to A. fenestrella but the iridescent area on the wing of male is smaller than H. biforata. Blue markings on the abdomen of male are also good characteristics to separate this species to H. biforata. The colour of male changes in stronger after teneral stage. The female are less colourful, they are black with cream-bluish mark on thorax and smoky hyaline wing, and the external morphological characteristics of female have no value in identification of the species.

They live in swift and high concentrate of oxygen flowing waters in primitive forests or secondary forests. Male are active flying insects, their territory is around floating timbers or rocks on water surface while female usually perches on higher positions. They are not too common species but distribute nearly whole the country.

 Male with red parasites, photographed by Cuong Do, Huu Lien, Lang Son

Two males in flying dance, photographed by Cuong Do, Hu Lien, Lang Son

Aristocypha fenestrella (Rambur, 1842)

Aristocypha fenestrella is one of the odonate species with wide range of altitudinal distribution (0-1700 m). It is one of several common mountain stream damselflies and widespread species.

They are small glittered damselfly with broad violet wings. The body of male is deep black basically with some yellow stripes on thorax and a particular triangular purple marking on dorsal of synthorax. Head is uncoloured black in both male and female with the swollen clypeus as characteristic of the family. Fore wings are narrow, hyaline and some how brownish and hind wings are much broader, with shining violet cell areas insert into dark background. Wings of female just are hyaline or hyaline-brownish. Legs of mature male are very typical with tibia developed to be broader and white coloured. The colours of teneral males usually are fader than it of mature forms.

Those damselflies usually are found in the primary forests, the mature forms fly around their breeding sites which are clear, swift streams. Although they are forest species, this species is quite common, they are widespread species and could be found in whole of the country.

It is one of the most active species of the family with and males are strict territorial individuals. Each male usually appropriates a micro-habitat (a rock, floating timber or a branch of tree..) near the water surface. And when another male enters his territory, rival flying dance will be observed. In courtship flying dance of male and female, or rival flying dance of males, the male usually stay-flies in the air and shows his flash violet hind wing and white tibia of his legs to the partner. A territorial flying between two males take place from some second to many minutes.

Larvae of the species live in sand, gravel swift streams; they are very typical with two long filament gills at the end of abdomen.

Young male, photographed by Cuong Do, Ba Vi National Park

Mature male in full color, photographed by Cuong Do, Hon Ba, Khanh Hoa

Mature male in full color, photographed by Dang Ngoc Tu, Tu Son, Hoa Binh

Female, photographed by Cuong Do, Hon Ba, Khanh Hoa

Philoganga vetusta Ris, 1912

This species was described by Ris in 1921 in the taxonomy descriptions of Odonata that had been collected from Taiwan, South China, Tonkin (Vietnam) and Philippine.

A robust damselfly, rest with the wings in a horizontal position. The face, thorax and abdomen are black with green and yellow marking. The colour of the body changes in states of the body developing. The teneral form is very fade with light brown and bright yellow marking, then the body changes into shining black with yellow and green marking or orange marking. They are petiolated wing damselflies, but with many antenodal cross veins on the wings.

They live in jungles and the larvae live in the clear running water with muddy or rocky bottom, under shade of the forests. They usually are found in good forest of limestone mountain areas but occasionally found in secondary forests where the nature environment is not disturbed too much.

They are weak flying damselflies and usually rest highly in the bush of branch of trees.

Male, eating a fly, photographe by Cuong Do, Quang Binh

A young male, photographed by Cuong Do, Tam Dao National Park

Devadatta ducatrix Lieftinck, 1969

This species was described by Lieftinck in 1969 based on the holotype collected from Thai Moi, Tonkin (Lang Son Province, North of Vietnam) after he revised R. Martin’s specimen in Paris Museum.

Same to Devadatta cyanocephala, it is a medium-size species, but the colour of body darker and without marking. Whole body species is metallic dark blue or black and uncoloured, The wings are hyaline with particularly apical dark spot, wings always are fold at rest.

Except the distribution, Devadatta ducatrix wide distributed in South East Asia, but it has similar habitat of D. cyanocephala. They usually fly weakly not too far from the streams of their larvae, in shade, humid tropical forests on hight mountains, and some time also found at sun light stream area. 

Male (close wings), photographed by Cuong Do, Ba Vi National Park

Male (opened wings), photographed by Cuong Do, Ba Vi

Female, photographed by Cuong Do, Tam Dao National Park

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.

From Botanist to Odonatologist

Since my first selection of a main object at university time, it has been more than 14 year, as I was a botanical student in Hanoi University of Science. Working hardly in 2 and haft years in Botany Faculty, I learned the systematic of flower fauna in Vietnam that mainly focus on the origin of the flower plants. I did a serious study on flower plant in Lang Son Province, North Vietnam where was considered to be the center of the first flower plant of the world. That theory relates to the relationship between flower plant, pollen transferring and insects. Beetles are insects that were considered the main factors of the pollen transferring at the begging time as they were considering the first group that fly to the ancient flowers to eat the pollen. I was impressed very much in the relationship between flowers and insects with complicated evolution of the relationship of two creature groups.
At that time I did my thinking about the diversity of flowers, we had a field trip to Tam Dao National Park for third year students. We spent a week to “play” with nature in Tam Dao. My impression was gained very much with the colorful, diversity  and very very big size insects in the National Park.  The story about Cheriotonus that are long arm beetles in the town, that discussed by local people made my really to be curious. More ever, I saw a collector from Japan, who is trading a number of stag beetles with very much surprising. I kept all that images in my mind to back the university after that first field trip to Tam Dao. After about 3 months considering, with some private reasons, I decided to change my object of my life, I selected entomology for my graduate subject and mosquitoes controlling for finishing my graduated thesis. Medicine entomological laboratory in National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology is one of the best entomological laboratories in Hanoi that time. I did try to fight again the developing of the mosquito populations but I quickly recognized that it is easy to win the insects in a short period but at the end, people always to be loser.  With the thinking of not easy to be success in applied entomological field and it was very possibility that I could not get the official position in the good laboratory in NIHE, I applied to some other works.

Four years working in a publishing house is the next period of my life; the main job was reading, discussing with the authors and editing the manuscripts. That kind of mission is quite interesting but it is not real thing that I want to do. I missed field trips, theories and forest very much, that make me applied to study the master degree on entomology in Hanoi University of Science. Again, I have an opportunity to select an object to study. Mosquitoes and controlling was more than enough for me that time, and I really wanted to select a group of insect that more colorful, and had been in my dream in the first field trip to Tam Dao. Jewelry beetles or Buprestidae are the first thing that came to my mind, not dragonfly. I love their color wings and they also eat the pollen as well, an image that related to my knowledge of botany. However, the life always very difference from what you want. To collect beetles, there was only one way that I known that time, it is using the light trap, in fact for Buprestidae, you can use a long net and catch them on the flowers during the day. Thinking of a hard work at night and only me with a heavy generator did destroy my dream of coleoptera that time. So, there was only way to continue my hobby of entomology, select a day flying insect group. Butterfly is a group with too many species for a single researcher with more than 1000 species around Vietnam. The next group that I considered that time is of course dragonfly. Since the time, my life of being an odonatologist was beginning, 2001…