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Grizzled Pintail / Trumpet Tail

Acisoma panorpoides panorpoides

Photo by BioAlex
Published on Project Noah
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13.7552, 100.68

Field Notes

Description:

Both Wikipedia and EOL are very light on details about this species. However ThaiOdonata.blogspot.com has some good info: The male is quite stunning, with its bright blue eyes, and blue and black markings to the thorax and abdomen. It almost has a marble effect. Here you can see just how bulbous the abdomen really is. S9-10 are black and the caudal appendages are white. The young male is yellow, as the female.<br><br>
The female is very similar to the male, except it is yellow in colour instead of blue and the caudal appendages are wider apart (usually the only way I can identify the female and young males).<br><br>
You can see this species throughout the country [Thailand] and it seems most common in the cool season (Dec-Mar). It is very difficult to get close to and flies away at the slightest movement. The females are slightly more forgiving than the males, but it's worth the effort, because it really is a good-looking dragonfly.
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Also, Official IUCN Redlist page: http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/59785/0

Habitat:

Swampy and well-vegetated open habitats. Found all across Africa, Southern, Southeast, and East Asia.

Notes:

It flew into my office and was banging into walls and windows, so I caught it in a plastic container and escorted it outside. It hung around long enough for me to grab some pictures. It's eyes were blue green, and it's body, as you can see, is light blue and black. It was maybe 4-5cm long from head to tail. The wingspan was maybe 6-7cm.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (4)

Thanks a million, Ashish. :)
Hi Alex... You can find yourself... http://www.ias.ac.in/initiat/sci_ed/lifescape/odonates-dragonflies.pdf
Cursory searching makes me think it could be a Blue-eyed Darner (Rhionaeschna multicolor), mainly because of the eyes and body color. However, most pictures I see have a rather differently shaped abdomen. The abdomen shape almost looks more like a Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) but then the coloration is different from most of the pictures I see online. Also, of all of the information I've come across, I haven't found any saying that either of these species can be found in Thailand. Thoughts?
Photographed
PublishedJanuary 25, 2012

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