Nam Nao: A Year in the Making (May)

Location 1: Helicopter Pad Lake, Nam Nao National Park, Petchabun. 

Date: Saturday,  26th May, 2012.
Weather: Overcast for most of the day, then torrential rain (stopping me visiting the headquarters)

Expectations of recording additional species (for my list): Low

Leech bites: 16 (my record, unfortunately!)

A vast improvement over last month's weather, May turned out to be OK. Though it eventually turned to heavy rain (it seems really early this year), I managed to spot four new additions for the year, and one new species for the lake (though I know Noppadon Makbun has previously spotted the species there). New for the year, are: Ceriagrion chaoi, Rhyothemis plutonia, Rhyothemis triangularis and Trithemis festiva. New for the lake is Indothemis carnatica. Like my previous visit, as I was preparing to visit the river at the headquarters, the heavens opened and it would have been a pointless task visiting. I will return in a couple of weeks and make a beeline for the headquarters.

Here are a few decent photos I managed to get last time out:

These are the best natural photos of Rhyothemis plutonia I have taken. He dropped down right in front of me, as the winds picked up. He held onto a strand of grass for dear life ... even though it was extremely windy, these came out very well indeed.

I saw two male Ceriagrion chaoi on this day, and this one was happy to let me shoot away in front of him. Luckily, though it was windy, I managed to get decent shots.

There were many many females of Pseudothemis jorina. I saw more females today than I have seen in all my time in the field. They were very difficult to get anywhere near though.

Nam Nao Helicopter Pad (added species from the last visit, bold; new species for the lake, blue; species not seen from last visit, red)

Fam. Coenagrionidae

Aciagrion tillyardi (Laidlaw, 1919) ♂ ♀ [common]

Agriocnemis femina (Brauer, 1868) ♂ ♀ [common]

Agriocnemis nana (Laidlaw, 1914) ♀♂ [very common]

Agriocnemis pygmaea (Rambur, 1842) ♂ ♀ [common]

Argiocnemis rubescens rubeola Selys, 1877) ♂♀ [♂ 2, ♀ 1]

Ceriagrion chaoi (Schmidt, 1964) ♂ [2]

Ceriagrion indochinense Asahina, 1967 ♀♂ [uncommon]

Ischnura senegalensis (Rambur, 1842) ♂ ♀ [fairly common]

Onychargia atrocyana Selys, 1865 ♂ ♀ [extremely common, especially copula]

Pseudagrion rubriceps rubriceps (Selys, 1876)

Fam. Platycnemididae

Coeliccia chromothorax (Selys, 1891) ♀♂ [2, 1]

Copera ciliata (Selys, 1863) ♂ ♀ [extremely common]

Copera marginipes (Rambur, 1842) ♂ [common]

Fam. Protoneuridae

Prodasineura autumnalis (Fraser, 1922) ♂ ♀ [extremely common]

Fam. Gomphidae

Ictinogomphus decoratus (Selys, 1854) ♂ [common]

Fam. Libellulidae

Acisoma panorpoides panorpoides (Rambur, 1842) ♂ ♀ [uncommon]

Brachydiplax farinosa (Krüger 1902) ♂ ♀ [♂ common]

Brachythemis contaminata (Fabricius, 1793) ♂ ♀ [common]

Diplacodes trivialis (Rambur, 1842) ♂ ♀ [fairly common]

Indothemis limbata (Selys, 1891) ♂ ♀ [♂ extremely common]

Indothemis carnatica (Fabricius, 1798) ♂ [2] 

Neurothemis fulvia (Drury, 1773) ♂  [uncommon]

Orthetrum chrysis (Selys, 1891) ♂ [fairly common]

Orthetrum sabina sabina (Drury, 1770) ♂ [common]

Pseudothemis jorina Förster, 1904 ♂♀ [common]

Rhodothemis rufa (Rambur, 1842)  ♂ [1]
Rhyothemis plutonia (Selys, 1883) ♂♀ [♂ very common, ♀ 1, part of a copula]
Rhyothemis triangularis (Kirby, 1889) ♂ [♂ 3]

Tholymis tillarga (Fabricius, 1798) ♂ [fairly common]

Trithemis aurora (Burmeister, 1839) ♂ ♀ [extremely common]

Trithemis festiva (Rambus, 1842) ♂ [2]

Next visit: mid June 

(primarily to visit the river at the headquarters)