Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Damselfly (28) - Agriocnemis Nana

Family : Coenagrionidae
Common Name : Dwarf Wisp
Status : Very rare
Location : Lornie Trail

This is the smallest damselfly in Singapore, a very rare species.  It is about 2 cm, slightly smaller than Agriocnemis Femina.  The thorax and abdomen of the male are blue in colour with black markings.  It looks like a smaller version of the male Pseudagrion Microcephalum.  The female has a greenish yellow with black marking thorax, more attractive than the male, in my opinion.

(Female - Lornie Trail, 15 Sep 2010)

I spotted this tiny female at Lornie Trail this morning.  After I took a single shot, a female dragonfly (Acisoma Panorpoides) suddenly came and preyed on it!  The dragonfly ate so fast that within a few minutes, my precious damselfly species was gone.  My friend found another female nearby but before we could capture it, it flew away.  As this species was very small in size, it was extremely difficult to re-locate it.  A real pity that I did not photograph this species well :-(  

(Eaten by a dragonfly - 15 Sep 2010)
Afternote : I revisited Lornie Trail on 20 Oct 2010 and I sighted one female around the same area.  I was happy to capture some improvement shots this time round.

(Lornie Trail - 20 Oct 2010)

6 comments:

Antony Ratcliffe said...

Poor thing! Those dragonflies have big appetites.
What's the name of the dragonfly that's lunching on the Damselfly? It has a beautiful leopard pattern.

Anthony Quek said...

It is a female, Acisoma Panorpoides. It appears to me that damselflies are their favourite food as I had seen them eating damselflies a few times.

See http://sayhitoant.blogspot.com/2009/03/dragonfly-11-acisoma-panorpoides-family.html

Aniruddha Dhamorikar said...

That is interesting! I have been seeing a lot of pictures been taking around this time of the year showing dragonflies feeding on dragonflies as well as damselflies, I wonder if its seasonal - like young ones feeding off these to obtain better nutrition or what?

Anthony Quek said...

Good observation, Aniruddha. I am not sure but you may right that it is seasonal.

C.Y. Choong said...

The last Agriocnemis nana (the third one) photo is a MALE.

Anthony Quek said...

Thanks for pointing out my mistake. I am glad that it is a male :D