19: Pseudagrion microcephalum (Rambur, 1842)

No: 19 / Family: Coenagrionidae / Genus: Pseudagrion

Name: Pseudagrion m. microcephalum / Blue Sprite

Habitat: Exposed ponds/lakes, and slow-moving streams, lowlands & uplands
Province(s): Widespread
In flight: Year-round / Sightings (by me): Locally common

Easily confused with: Pseudagrion australasiae; Paracercion melanotum

A common, but still stunning species is Pseudagrion microcephalum. I have seen this species on numerous occasions, in many lowland areas. It is easily confused with another species, P. australasiae. Though easy to spot, it is difficult to get good photographs as it seem always ready to fly away at the slightest movement.

The male

The bright blue and markings makes it easy to spot, but it is often confused with P. australasiae. However, it is brighter blue, smaller in size and has longer superior appendages (the black appendages at the end of the abdomen). 

The sub-adult male

The young males are seldom seen by the waterside, but if you look in the trees and bushes that surround water where the males are present, it is possible to find them, often close to the females.  The colours are very similar to that of the female. He will eventually turn bright azure blue.

The female

Like sub-adult males, the female tends to hide away and only appears in the open when it's ready to copulate.

A copula

Often the best way to tell the females apart, is to wait for them to copulate. However, you may be waiting for some time! This copula (wheel) I saw in Narathiwat and the tandem in Chantaburi.

I have spotted this species many many times in Khon Kaen, as well as many other places. They tend to like ditches, ponds and lakes, but I have seen them from time to time along very slow, almost still streams.  I have seen them almost all year round, but they seem most common between October-March.