Dragonfly (32) - Orthetrum Chrysis

Family : Libellulidae

Common Name : Spine-tufted Skimmer

Status : Common
Location : Rifle Range Nature Trail, Venus Drive

This is a common and relatively unattractive dragonfly species.  It is not easy to get a nice shot as they are usually quite sensitive to human.  I often gave it a miss and therefore, I am not surprised that I could only found one record image in my harddisk.  I shall make an effort to spend sometime on this species and get a better shot next time. 

(Rifle Range Nature Trail - 22 Apr 2010)

Dragonfly (29) - Orthetrum Glancum (黑尾灰蜻)

Family : Libellulidae

Common Name : Common Blue Skimmer

Status : Uncommon

Location : Rifle Range Nature Trail, Dairy Farm Nature Park

Orthetrum Glaucum is a medium size dragonfly species.  The males are blue in colour with a greyish at the tip of its abdomen.  The females are golden yellow in colour and they are less commonly found than the males.  They usually perch on messy bushes and sometimes on stones under the hot sunlight making it difficult to get nice shots.  So far I have sighted them at Dairy Farm Nature Park and Rifle Range Nature Trail.  Hope I can get an improvement shot soon.

(Rifle Range Nature Trail - 2010)

Dragonfly (25) - Brachydiplax Chalybea

Family : Libellulidae
Common Name : Blue Dasher
Status : Common
Location : Singapore Botanical Gardens, Rifle Range Nature Trail, Segar Road

A relatively small-sized species commonly found in ponds. Males are blue in colour with dark patches while females are brown in colour. Female is less common than male. I have seen the female only once. By the way, I have initially thought that this is a Aethriamanta Gracilis. Both look very similar although B. Chalybea is slightly bigger in size.

(Male - Rifle Range Nature Trail, 22 Apr 10)

(Female - Segar Road, 3 Jan 2009)

Dragonfly (24) - Neurothemis Fluctuans

Family : Neurothemis fluctuans
Common Name : Common Parasol
Status : Very common
Location : Almost anywhere in Singapore where there are bushes near ponds, streams, lake, reservoirs, etc.

This is easily one of the most common dragonfly species that you can find in Singapore. They are so common that most of the photographers, me included, would give it a miss when seeing them.

(Male - Venus Drive, 25 Nov 2008)

(Female - Venus Drive, 24 Oct 2009)

Dragonfly (22) - Rhyothemis Obsolescens

Family : Libellulidae
Common Name : Bronze Flutterer
Status : Uncommon
Location : Chestnut Ave, Rifle Range Nature Trail

This species can be easily identified by its bronze wings and dark marking. Both male and female are similar in appearance. They like to perch under direct sunlight. I have only seen this dragonfly in an open marshes near Chestnut Avenue. Unfortunately, before I could get a better shot of it, the place is now under redevelopment  for private residential purposes.

(Rifle Range Nature Trail - 22 Apr 2010)

My 2nd sighting of this species was at Rifle Range Nature Trail.  I am glad to capture some improvement shots of it.

(Rifle Range Nature Trail - 22 Apr 2010)

Dragonfly (13) - Ictinogomphus Decoratus Melaenops

Family : Gomphidae
Common Name : Common Flangetail
Status : Common
Location : West Coast Park, Venus Drive, Lornie Trail, Rifle Range Nature Trail, Singapore Botanical Gardens

(Venus Drive, 25 Feb 2009)

This is one of the biggest dragonflies (about 12 cm long) that I have seen in Singapore, easily 4 times the size of Asian Pintail (see previous post). It is classified as a very common species but I would consider it relatively common as I have spotted them only 4 or 5 times so far.  I first spotted it at West Coast Park and recently at a slow-moving open stream in Venus Drive. It has a aggresive look maybe due to its huge size and certainly not an easy species to get close. The nearest distance that I was able to shoot was more than a metre away but fortunately, it often returned to the same twig where it perched.

On 13 Sep 2010, I finally got an improvement shot of this giant dragonfly.

(Singapore Botanical Gardens - 13 Sep 2010)

Dragonfly (10) - Agrionoptera Insignis

Family : Libellulidae
Common name : Grenadier
Status : Common

This is classified as an uncommon species but I have seen them on many occasions such as Venus Drive, West Coast Park, Rifle Rifle Range Nature Trail, Jurong Woods, Jurong Woods II, Wild Wild West, etc. Generally,k, they are usually found in sluggish streams & shady drains.  Quite a common species in my opinion. 

(Male - Venus Drive, 25 Feb 2009)

The male has a a prominent red obdomen while the female is thicker and duller in colour.  A very cooperative species which usually perches around the same spot for a prolonged period.

(Female - Venus Drive, 15 Jan 2009)

(Male closeup - West Coast Park, 31 Jan 2009)

Damselfly (3) - Coeliccia Octogesima

Family : Platycnemidae
Common Name : Telephone Sylvan
Status : Common forest species
Location : Venus Drive, Upper pierce, Rifle Range Nature Trail

The Coeliccia octogesima is a common forest species. Unlike most damselflies that I've seen, it has a thin body and held its wings apart instead of holding them together vertically. This male species is easily identified by the two telephone shape from the dorsal view of its thorax. The female is similar to the male but the telephone shape is less well defined.

(Venus Drive, 4 Feb 2009)

I first spotted it on 26 Dec 2008 perching very lowly on small patch of grass making it difficult to photograph the side view. I found a mating pair in Feb 09 but it soon separated and perched on a thin branch in small dark stream but it was high enough this time to have a classic side view shot.

(Venus Drive, 4 Feb 2009)

This is one of the most cooperative species that I have seen and I have no problem getting a dorsal close-up view.

Dragonfly (2) - Nannophya Pygmaea [小紅蜻蜓]

Family : Libellulidae
Common name : Pygmy Dragonfly
Status : Common
Location : Lornie Trail, Rifle Range Nature Trail, Chestnut Ave, Upper Peirce

(Not fully Matured Male - Chestnut Ave, 4 Jan 2009)

Nannophya pygmaea (or pypmy) is one of the smallest dragonflies species in the world and certainly the smallest dragonfly that can be found in Singapore. It has a total length of approximately 15mm long and a wingspan of only about 20mm.

(Mature Male - Rifle Range Nature Trail, 20 Feb 2010)

The mature male (above pictures) is almost entire red particularly on its eyes and body.  The immature males is yellowish brown in colour (see below).  The female's abdomen has bands of brown and white.

They are very cooperative and photographing them is relatively easy. The challenge is to get a uniform background and a good angle having its wings not covering their faces which I didn't quite manage to do it for these 3 images.   I have seen the female but I have yet to get any shot of it yet.

(Immature male - Chestnut Ave, 4 Jan 2009)

Damselfly (2) - Vestalis Amethystina

Family : Calopterygidae
Common Name :
Status : Common forest species
Location : Venus Drive, Rifle Range Nature Trail, Upper Peirce, Dairy Farm Nature Park, Bukit Timah Bicycle Trail, etc

This metallic green species is classified as a common forest damselfly but not many of us have seen it or photographed it. I saw my friend, Yi Xiong, captured in June last year at Chestnut Path and since then, it has been on my wish list. I am happy to have finally added it into my damesfly collection which was first spotted at Venus Drive.

(Venus Drive, 16 Sep 09)

What is so unique about this species is that it has one of the most attractive wings. Depending on viewing angle and reflecting sunlight, the clear wings of this damselfly can appear to sparkle with purplish blue colour. It is larger than the common damselflies with big broad wings.

(Rifle Range Nature Trail, 11 Feb 2009)

It was quite skittish and difficult to get close to it.  I really had a hard time chasing it up from the bushes and down to a small dark stream and vice verse several times. Easily one of my most tiring shoots that I have experienced. It was also not easy to set up my tripod in the stream and the poor lighting did not help. Despite all my efforts, these are the only decent shots that I managed to capture.

(Side view close-up - Venus Drive, 27 Dec 2008)

Damselfly (1) - Euphaea Impar

Family : Euphaeidae
Common Name : Blue-sided Satinwing
Status : Uncommon
Locatin : Venus Drive, Rifle Range Nature Trail

(Venus Drive, 30 Dec 2008)

This is an uncommon forest damselfly first spotted in Venus Drive. The male is characterised by its bright blue colour at side of thorax, and broad dark patch at the tip of the hind wing. The female is less attractive with dull olive thorax. This species like to perch on dried twigs or branches half meter above partially-shaded forest streams, sometimes as high as above 3 metres. The males are more commonly seen than the females.

Female (Venus Drive, 27 May 2009)

I have seen the male at least 3 times around the same areas that I photographed the metallic green damselfly (Vestalis amethystina) but never had the chance to go near, not even a record shot. The reason is that once it flew off, it is very hard to spot where it next landed because of its dark-coloured body which blends nicely in the low-light surrounding. I saw it for the 4th time and I was determined at get a better shot. I decided to fix on my 1.4 Teleconvertor this time and got into the stream very carefully. I tried not to create any noise each time I stepped into the water, which may scare away the damsel (based on past 3 encounters). Soon I was one metre away from the damsel and I took many record shots.

(Male side view close-up - Venus Drive, 30 Dec 2008)

When I had enough of it, I moved closer. To my surprise, the damsel liked me and allowed me to take various close-up shots. The only problem was that I had little room to move around to adjust the composition or get parallel to it as the stream is narrow and the difficulty in placing the tripod. Anyway, I got the shots I wanted and went home happy.

(Female, close-up - 27 May 2009)