Egg mass of a female dragonfly Rhodothemis rufa. The segments are wet with water.
♀45mm
2017-06-09 WHITE BRIDGE POND
Last Updated on Friday, 15 September, 2023 06:09:24 PM
INDEX > Dragonflies of Borneo > Family Libellulidae > Genus Rhodothemis > Rhodothemis rufa (Rambur, 1842)
Rhodothemis rufa (Rambur, 1842)
Widespread in many Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, Guangxi, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Peninsular
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Viet Nam
A medium-sized dragonfly with red eyes, thorax and abdomen.
Young males and females have a mid-dorsal citron-yellow stripe in the pro-thorax and a citron-yellow stripe on mid-dorsum of the abdominal segments. These marks get obscured by pruinescence in adult males.
Female is brown. Female breeds in open ponds, marshes(沼澤地), lakes and well-vegetated ditches
Egg mass of a female dragonfly Rhodothemis rufa. The segments are
wet with water.
♀45mm
2017-06-09 WHITE BRIDGE POND
More on EGGS OF DRAGONFLIES
Red Orthetrums like competing fiercely for territories and it is easy to be
mistaken this Rufa as a young Ortherum because it is more reddish then the
other.
But Rufa is completely a difference genus from Ortherum
A Rhodothemis rufa is distinguished by :
1) Incomplete antenodal cross vein
2) Discoidal field in the forewing has both 2 cell rows and 3 cell rows.
A male Rhodothemis rufa has a more reddish thorax then the
Orthetrum.
A female Rhodothemis rufa
| MALE | FEMALE |
 A male Rhodothemis rufa Distinguished from red Orthetrum by incomplete antenodal cross vein.
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 A female Rhodothemis rufa has middorsal pale yellowish streak, which runs from the top of antefrons through occipital triangle, prothorax, along the dorsal carina (both sides), antealar sinus, all dorsal sclerites of pterothorax and the middorsal ridge of segments 1 to 6. |
The 4 easily confused Male Red Dragonflies of Borneo
| Orthetrum pruinosum | Orthetrum chrysis | Orthetrum testaceum | Rhodothemis rufa | ||||
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 O. pruinosum  |
 O. chrysis  |
 O. testaceum  |
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1) Incomplete antenodal cross vein 2) Discoidal field in the forewing has both 2 cell rows and 3 cell rows. |
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Eyes meet partially along a seam (arrowed) |
Eyes barely touch at a centre point (arrowed) |
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| Orthetrum pruinosum | Orthetrum chrysis | Orthetrum testaceum | Rhodothemis rufa |
♀41mm |
♀42mm |
♀46mm |
♀45mm |
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The 3 families of dragonflies found in Borneo Island:
1 Family of Aeshnidae
CHART OF DRAGONFLIES OF BORNEO
RELATED TOPICS
INTRODUCTION TO THE DAMSELFLIES OF SABAH, BORNEO ISLAND
Insects are diverse and dominant inhabitants of the tropical rainforests in Borneo Island. New species are discovered too often. Entomologists are still struggling to cope with the documentation of tropical insect diversity.
Most of the common dragonflies in Sabah are red coloured, especially from the family Libellulidae. Some red pecies are even confused as same species, for example the three species of Genus Neurothemis.
The compound eyes of dragonflies
Dragonflies and damselflies have large compound eyes that can see in all directions. When the compound eye is magnified several hundred times, each individual facet (ommatidium) is shown to be hexagonal in shape.
Ovipositor (Vulvar Lamina)
of Female Dragonflies and Damselflies
Female dragonflies have either one of the two method of depositing eggs from
the abdomen:
1- using Ovipositor Structure
2- using Vulvar Lamina
Male do not have an ovipositor. Instead male dragonfly and damselfly have appendages.
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GO FURTHER FLORA Borneo has 150 species of wild fig trees. Most of them are found in forests of Sabah. FISHERIES Prawn farming is a main commercial activities in Tawau. Spawners from Tawau are graded the best in Malaysia. For decades, Tawau has been exporting high-grade tiger prawns to several countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Egypt and Australia. |
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Damselflies of Borneo |
