Bright warm sunspot at a mountain stream of Tawau Hills Park (above photo). The perching location of following damselflies Vestalis amoena.

 

Vestalis amoena (Hagen in Selys, 1853) 青笛珈蟌
Found in Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Borneo, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand
Sub-Order: ZYGOPTERA Super-Family: CALOPTERYGOIDEA Family: CALOPTERYGIDAE
Photographs and text by : Wong  March 2007  Sabah

The family of CALOPTERYGIDAE is known as the Broad-Winged Damsels because their wings are broader than other damselflies. These are large damselflies with iridescent green or blue coloration.  In most species the wing is marked with black or smoky brown.

Vestalis amoena's  flight pattern is similar to the flitting of a butterfly. I spotted this Vestalis amoena by its rather bouncy erratic flight, similar to that of a butterfly. With two pairs of broad wing and fly like a butterfly, one may easily mistaken a flying Vestalis amoena as a butterfly.

The body color of these broad-winged damselflies is often metallic. The eyes are black in males and brown in females.

They fly more like a butterflies.

Broad-winged Damsels are almost always seen perched horizontally on streamside vegetation and rarely take on any other perching position.

Broad-winged Damsels usually prefer streams and rivers. Broad-winged damselflies (Family Calopterygidae) have broader wings, black or with with blackish markings, that are narrowed at the base. When the fly is resting, the wings are held together over the body.
 

 

This female Vestalis amoena belongs to the family of CALOPTERYGIDAE that is known as the Broad-Winged Damselflies because their wings are broader than other damselflies. These are large damselflies with metallic green coloration.

This female measures:
Hind wing length = 36mm
Total body length = 50mm
 

This family of damselfly has long black legs. They are very easy to find beside mountain stream because they like to rest on sun lighted spots.

 

This female’s marking is same as the male except that a female has greater color variable from metallic green to metallic gold. When flying in a pair, the female can be easily identified by its golden metallic reflection.

Segment 8,9,10 of a female Vestalis amoena

Vestalis amoena (Hagen in Selys, 1853) is a beautiful species with metallic green body that shine under the sun.

Only found in clear, swift forest streams such as Danum Valley in Lahad Datu where the original forest is protected and managed by Yayasan Sabah Organization

Close encounter with natural life in a clear forest stream in Sabah.

Picture 2 : This male Vestalis amoena (Hagen in Selys, 1853) was first perching on a river rock just few inches above swift flowing water when I tried to photograph him. Very soon he discovered this batter bright warm sunspot to perch on.

Picture 3 : Dorsal view of the head and prothorax of the same male Vestalis amoena (Hagen in Selys, 1853)

In the middle of prothorax is a round shape as if having a 4th ocellus on the prothorax

Picture 4 : Ventral view (bottom view) of the last 3 segments of this male Vestalis amoena (Hagen in Selys, 1853).

There are at least 4 green Vestalis species with similar outlook and can only be differentiate from their appendages.

Vestalis amoena (Hagen in Selys, 1853) is a broad-winged Damselfly. Broad-winged Damselflies are so called because their wings are not abruptly narrowed near the base as are the wings of other damselflies (narrow-winged damselfly and pond damselfly)

INDEX : Dragonfly     October 05, 2007 02:58:41 PM