Matrona Basilaris

Matrona basilaris (透顶单脉色蟌).

Like all broad-winged damselflies, it is a stunning insect. This species ranges all over China, though this one, spotted in a 500-year-old forest in Huxingshan Yao Township was the first I have seen in the Hunanese wild.

Black-tailed Marsh Dart

Black-tailed Marsh Dart (Ceriagrion fallax 长尾黄蟌).

A wonderfully coloured damselfly. I have seen clusters of them by one particular stream that flows down Yuelu Mountain and nowhere else.

Female Platycnemis Phyllopoda

Platycnemis phyllopoda (叶足扇蟌). Female.

The female of the species is decided less 'leaf-footed' than the male, though she is more striking with her black and pinkish yellow colouring.

 

Male Platycnemis Phyllopoda

Platycnemis phyllopoda (叶足扇蟌). Male.

My favourite local damselfly: the 'leaf-footed' or 'phyllopoda', a Greek word that also denotes an (unrelated) group of crustaceans. In flight its leafy white feet flutter like tiny paper wind spinners.

Common Bluetail

Common Bluetail (Ischnura senegalensis, 褐斑异痣蟌).

Throughout the summer, if one searches around the bushes and forested areas adjacent to water one will often find a common bluetail damselfly resting on a leaf. Sometimes the females have a yellow ochre thorax but usually it is blue or bluish green on both sexes. They all have khaki yellow stripes running along the sides of their abdomens for five or four-and-a-half segments terminating in an eighth azure blue segment, a penultimate segment of black and blue, and a final short segment with black on the dorsum and subtle yellow stripes on the sides. They seem placid but are hunters in their domain.