Saturday, April 23, 2011

114. Unknown species

Number: 114
Family: Incertae sedis (not placed)
Genus: Unknown (poss. Burmargiolestes or Agrimorpha)
Species: Poss. Burmargiolestes sp. (similar to B. melanothorax) or Agrimorpha fusca
Common name(s): N/A
Thai name(s): Unknown
Habitat: Extremely dark, heavily forested area amongst bamboo (almost impossible to see).
Province(s) sighted: Nang Kruan waterfall, Lamklong Ngu NP (Kanchanaburi province)
Sightings (by me): Rare
In flight (that I have seen): March (longer, I'm sure)


I recently saw an extremely skittish teneral damselfly about 70 metres away from the water's edge in a darkened area, amongst bamboo. It was really difficult to spot and was only given away by the white dorsal patch on the abdomen. Again, having no idea of the species, I sent it to Noppadon Makbun and he said; "It's surely in genus Burmargiolestes.  There's only one species recorded in Thailand: B. melanothorax. It's similar to this species except pale marking on apical abdominal segment." He also said that he has never seen a teneral specimen of this species, so it is difficult to confirm. 

Recently, Noppadon has informed me that this is possibly not only a new species for Thailand, but also a new genus ... Agrimorpha fusca. If it is, that would be fantastic news. Unfortunately, as it is only a teneral specimen and you can't see the colours of the face clearly, it is difficult to tell. Hopefully, I will get the chance to return there this year and spot an adult ... who knows, it could well be a new genus for the country! Once again, many, many thanks to Noppadon for his input and invaluable information ...  if it were left to me, this post would simply say "unknown brown damselfly" :)




1 comment:

  1. looks like Elattoneura species. some kind of bambootail.

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