Devadatta cyanocephala Hamalainen, Sasamoto & Karube, 2006

In 1995, Jan Van Tol reported about three females of this species in his field trip to Bach Ma National Park, and based on the characteristic of wing venation of females he believed that it is unknown species he did not name it as a new species for science cause of lacking male. Latter Haruki Karube, Akihiko Sasamoto and Matti Hamalainen did the description of this species independently base on males and females of the species that collected from the same locality and Bao Loc Province. Finally, three of them cooperated to publish the description of the species in 2006, 10 years later after Jan Van Tol's report. Name of the species specifies its blue face.

They are medium size damselflies head is typical with brighten cream bluefish marking of their face. Body is black brownish in general with cream yellowish marking on thorax and abdomen, legs short and robust. Wings are hyaline with an apical fate dark spot, they usually fold wings at rest, and they rarely open the wings as resting. They were found in clear streams in tropical forest of Limestone Mountains, in Bach Ma - Thua Thien Hue and recently were recorded in Hon Ba - Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong - Bao Loc. Although they are very common at the habitat sites but they have only been known in the centre and south of Vietnam. They are weak flied damselfly, and do not fly too far from the breeding sites, the mature forms usually fly in shade of the forest but occasionally they can be found near waterfalls, in sunshine.

Male of D. cyanocephala, photographed by Cuong Do in Bach Ma, Thua Thien Hue

Female of D. cyanocephala, photographed by Cuong Do, Bach Ma, Thua Thien Hue

Neolucanus punctulatus Nguyen et Schenk,2013

This new species was described by Nguyen and Schenk on Beetles World journal, No 7 in 2013 based on 12 males and 1 female. Type specimens were collected from Ba Na forest area, Da Nang, South center of Vietnam. Maybe its distribution also extent to Bach Ma, Thua Thien Hue because the two ranges of mountains are connected together.

Neolucanus punctulatus is small size beetle, name of the species is idea of first author of the species, Mr. Quangthai Nguyen, with meaning "punctured", because the surface of body of the species strongly punctured.

N. punctulatus is closed to its related species N. guiardi that found from Laos.

Photo of male paratype Neolucanus punctulatus from author's collection

Necydalis from North Vietnam

Necydalis is very interesting genus of long horn beetles (Cerambycidae), very diversity in Indochina area. They belong to Lepturinae subfamily, some authors arrange them as a distinguish subfamily, Necydalinae. They are tiny beetles with a short elytron and the hyaline hind wings appear clearly so they look like wasps.

In nature, they are really perfect mimic beetles and under sun light, they look same to small wasps, not only the wings but also the abdomen. The reason for many kind of cerambicidae beetles "want to be" look like a wasp maybe because most of them are flower beetles, and wasp is a good subject around flower for mimicking, poisonous insects. So if you are not poisonous, you still can be an creature that look like poisonous, at least it helps you alive.

They are day flying insects and the best method to collect them is summit collecting during sunny days. With a big insect net, waiting at the top of mountains, above of the canopy of the tropical forests, collectors can catch them as they fly up with the wind. Because of small size and fast flying, they are not easy to be catch, particularly in a shining sunny day, they seem are invisible insects flying with hyaline hind wings.

Male of Necydalis alpinicola Nisanto et Ohbayashi 2003 (scan from the original description), this species found from Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province.

Male of Necydalis araii Niisato 1998 (dorsal view)

Male of Necydalis araii Niisato 1998 (ventral view)

Necydalis concolor Niisato et Ohbayashi  2004 is stout species with black body in color, they found from Tam Dao National Park, North Vietnam.

Male of Necydalis shinborii shinborii Takakuwa et Niisato 1996 (dorsal view)

Male of Necydalis shinborii shinborii Takakuwa et Niisato 1996 (ventral view)

There are two subspecies of of N. shinborii, N. s. shinborri found from Tam Dao National Park and N. s. hainana found from Hainan, China as its name.

Male of Necidalis choui Nisanto, 2004 (dorsal view)

Male of Necidalis choui Nisanto, 2004 (ventral view)

This species maybe new record for Vietnam fauna, it be found from Yen Bai this year (2014), it has been known as a Chinese species, beautiful and rare species.

Lucanus dongi Maeda, 2009

One of the most important discovery of Lucanidae recently is the paper by Maeda in 2009 with a series of new and rare species of this group from South Vietnam. One of them is Lucanus dongi Maeda, 2009. The species is typical with a lower apical tooth that flatten, not point and two posterior lobes of head are developed remarkably.

Takeshi Maeda in an entomologist and collector from Japan, he worked mainly in Vietnam about more than 10 years ago, can speak Vietnamese very well, he helped many Japanese entomologists get the materials from Vietnam for studying in a long time. Not same to Mr. Katsura, only collecting, Mr. Maeda done some works on taxonomy of Lucanidae from Vietnam. He co-worked with Mr. Dong, who is a local collector from Tam Dao, and one of the local collector can identify the insect groups. Mr. Dong can't speak English, can't read manuscript and know nothing about taxonomy but he collected insect in very early time. His knowledge about biology as well as ecology of insects from Vietnam makes any specialists be surprised. About 5 to 10 years ago, he is maybe only the Vietnamese who understand about species of Lucanidae in Vietnam, who can recognized undescribed species of the fauna. Name of the species was named after Mr. Dong who first person recognized the species was unknown species, but Mr. Maeda make the description of the paper.

The type locality of L. dongi that recorded in the paper is Kon Tum, South Vietnam, however since it found in 2009, no more record of the species in Kon Tum be confirmed again, so the question about the true type locality of Lucanus dongi has not been full cleared.

Dorsal view of large male of Lucanus dongi

Lateral view of Lucanus dongi

Head and mandible of Lucanus dongi

Yumikoi makii Arnaud & Miyaa, 2006

This species is known as an endemic species that found from center of Vietnam. It distributes from Thua Thien Hue to Quang Nam and Quang Ngai Provices, maybe also found in Kon Tum. It is monotype of the genus Yumikhoi, authors erected the species and the genus in the same paper in 2006.

It is one of the species that easy to breed so it is object of many breeders.

The species be found in forests with elevation from 700 to more than 1000m, of Truong Son Mountain Rage in center of Vietnam. The female is black and much more smaller than the male.

Dorsal view of male specimen

Male in front view

Katsuraius ikedaorum Nagai, 1996 - species of names

In 1996, Nagai erected a new genus Katsuraius which consist of a single species that also the genotype K. ikedaorum, base on specimens that collected from Tam Dao National Park, Vinh Phuc Province, North Vietnam. Up to now, the species has known only the type locality and considered an endemic species of Vietnam.

Name of the genus honor a Japanese collector, Mr. Katsura who married a Vietnamese girl, Mrs. Doan Lan Giang (her name presents in the name of the subspecies Lucanus kraatzi giangae), while the name of the species was named after Mr. Ikeda who published the subspecies L. kraatzi giangae from Cao Bang Province.

The male and female shinning black, mandible of male is typical with a middle stout tooth while it is very particular shape in female.

Pairs of K. ikedaorum (female above and male below)

Dorsal view of the male

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…

Camacinia harterti Karsch, 1890

In the field trip with my wife in 2009 (honey moon trip + field trip) to Tam Dao National Park, I found a new record of very beautiful dragonfly, Camacinia harterti Karsch, 1890. It was recorded the first time in Vietnam, the species is large dragonfly and to be the second species of the genus be found in the country. Not same to its related species, Camacinia gigantea, that found very common in low land in South East Asia, C. harterti was found in high mountain forest that not strong disturbed.

This species is brighten colorful with a nearly hyaline wings, red abdomen with lemon yellow basal segments. It is unbelievable discovery because it is very rare and Tam Dao fauna has been researched very often in 20 years recently.

C. harterti is quite rare and be found on the way from the main Town of Tam Dao to Tam Dao 2, there has not been any other record of this species since 2009 in Tam Dao.

Male of Camacinia harterti in Tam Dao National Park, taken by Cuong Do (14.IV.2009)

Habitat of C. harterti, my wife in the trip to Tam Dao, 2009

Atrocalopteryx fasciata Yang, Hamalainen & Zhang, 2014

The new species of very beautiful Caloptera damselfly was found from Yunnan, collected by the first author of the species, be confirmed by second and third author.

The new species is close to its related species Atrocalopteryx laosica that was recorded from Laos and Vietnam. They are easy separated by the differnce of wing color marking, A. laosica has darker wings while A. fasiata has clear part at wing apex and base.

Calopterygidae is one of the most colorful insect group among Odonata order, Matti Hamalainen (third author of the species) is the world expert of this group, Haomiao Zhang (the second author) is young actives odonatologist who interested in many groups of Odonata, he found many new species of Odonata from China.

Atrocalopteryx fasciata, holotype from the original description

Atrocalopteryx laosica, taken by Cuong Do in Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province, North Vietnam (29.VII.2006)