109. Prodasineura laidlawii (Förster in Laidlaw, 1907)

No: 109 / Family: Platycnemididae / Genus: Prodasineura

Name: Prodasineura laidlawii / Laidlaw's Threadtail / แมลงปอเข็มท้องเข็มเอราวัณ

Habitat:  Slow, uplands rivers and streams

Province(s): Kanchanaburi, Phuket, Naathiwat, Yala, Songkhla
In flight: March-August / Sightings (by me): Locally common

Easily confused with: N/A

My recent trip to Kanchanaburi proved to be fairly successful, even though it is early in the 'flight' season. I will post all my findings as they are identified by Noppadon Makbun. Some, though, are easy to identify, even by me!

The first species I found and one I expected to see was Prodasineura laidlawi, my 6th species from the Prodasineura genus. I now just need to find, P. humeralis and P. collaris to complete the set. Hopefully I will find these species when I travel south in October. 

The male

The male is easy to identify and perches on twigs and leaves at the edge of the river. They are easy to spot with their blue stripes on the thorax. Segments 9-10 are blue dorsally and the caudal appendages are also blue. S8 also has a blue mark which changes as it ages. See photos below.

Prodasineura laidlawii, male - See how the marking on S8 has become more prominent as it ages.

A copula

I wasn't able to spot an individual female in the short time I visited Kanchanaburi, but I did manage to see a copula. You can see that the female is similar to the male, but much duller.

You can see this species in Kanchanaburi all year, especially at Erawan waterfall (if you can handle photographing nature amongst thousands of tourists in speedos).