Diario del proyecto Odonata of Oe-Cusse

As the rainfalls starts to taper off, sites that were pretty much devoid of libellulidae (Oesono rivermouth) now host them more specifically P. flavens. They are very easy to net and Oesono rivermouth is probably the best place to spot them this year. While trying to expand on my checklist of crepuscular species I have encountered hundreds of dragon flies resembling P. flavens flying above Ipomoea pes-caprae. I have collected one and will upload some pictures tomorrow alongside a brief site description. I plan to revisit this site at 6 AM tomorrow.

As the rains start to finish we are witnessing here in Oe-Cusse some interesting changes in species abundance of Odanatans. For instance I have continued to survey Oesono neighborhood for crepuscular species and found the open fields ( -9.201356°, 124.379810°) while being very goo habitat for the species I'm after, it mainly hosts P. flavens. It is interesting to see this species flying, they have an irregular flight pattern and were some relatively easy to catch (due to their sheer abundance). Here other larger AESHNIDAE have been spotted but with less that 30 minutes of netting time I'm yet to collect an Anax or another Gynacantha.

Other species in a 2 km radius inclue: Orthetrum testaceum, Orthetrum sabina, Diplacodes trivialis.

I will soon start describing new sites namely one some 1.5 hour hike from this one. My next planned visit is Meokana Water falls, let me see what this site holds. This was the place where my wife was hidden from the Indonesian Militia in 1999, I hope I'm able to make this site justice and record as many odonatans as I can and find and expand my collections of plants, birds, freshwater fish and some freshwater bugs as well.

So after having contributed to Malte's paper on odonatans of Timor, I have extracted a list of species I'm meant to look for during 2019, these include:
• Anaciaeschna jaspidea (CRESPUSCULAR - Meokana)
• Anax gibbosulus (Site selected: Oeupo)
• Epophthalmia vittigera
• Hemicordulia australiae
• Hemicordulia tau
• Rhyothemis graphiptera
• Rhyothemis phyllis
• Tetrathemis irregularis
• Urothemis aliena
• Zygonyx ida (site selected to survey: Nubau falls, Padiae)
• Zyxomma obtusum (CRESPUSCULAR - site selected to survey: Sumlilin river, Cruz)
• Zyxomma petiolatum (CREPUSCULAR - site selected: To be identified)

According to surveys conducted in Malaysia, most of the crepuscular activity seems to happen in May. While so I have noted crepuscular species throughough the year (mainly Tholymis tillarga). I shall continue to survey during dusk and dawn to see if I notice any increase in number and/or changes in the species.

Wilson, K.D.P., Gibert, E. (2006). Survey of Odonata at Endau-Rompin, Peninsular Malaysia. Technical Report.