Sarawak: MJC Odonata

 

The MJC forest still (I hope, as of this writing) lines a little stretch of road in Batu Kawa, at the edge of Kuching near a tributary of the Sarawak River.  The seemingly permanent ditches lining the road through it make for first-rate dragonfly habitat, and I have been there numerous times since my first visit.  In early September 2013 Hans Breuer and I made a brief stop there - only long enough to get a few quick photos.  Here they are.

 

Odonates - dragonflies and damselflies - are not the only creatures to use the roadside ditches.  This is the foam nest of a rhacophorid frog, presumably one of the species of Rhacophorus or Polypedates, though as I didn't see the frog itself I don't know which one.

There are usually about a dozen species of dragonfly zipping about the ponds, often in numbers.  Brachydiplax chalybea is one of the commonest, and is indeed an abundant species in most wet areas away from the forest interior.

In the shadier ditches there are a usually a few Brachygonia oculata, a lovely little dragonfly (known as the Pixie in Singapore, where it is uncommon). Unlike Brachydiplax it seems to avoid open sunny areas, though it will seek out a small patch of sun where its colours show to best advantage.

Smaller still - indeed, one of the smallest dragonflies in the world, if not the smallest - is Nannophya pygmaea.  It's not much bigger than a hoverfly.  The brilliant red-and-black males are extremely aggressive, and guard what I presume are their territories from a favourite blade of grass.

The only damselfly I usually see at MJC is Ceriagrion cerinorubellum.  That is, perhaps, not too surprising.  This is an aggressive carnivore that pursues and eats other damselflies, which would therefore do well to avoid its haunts.

This one appears to have picked up a parasitic red mite on its thorax.  It is quite common to see parasitic passengers - mites, flies etc - ridng about on damselflies and dragonflies.  This one not only stands out; it matches, presumably to no advantage whatsoever, its victim's colour scheme.