Tyriobapta torrida Kirby, 1889

Tyriobapta torrida Kirby, 1889
Tree-hugging Dragonfly
Found in Asia: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand

Among the 3 Tyriobapta species in Borneo, the most abundant and widespread species is Tyriobapta torrida . It is the largest member of the genus and the males are recognized by the broad, slightly metallic bluish-black area at the base of the hind wings. It is found from the lowlands to about 600 m. Both sexes perch vertically on tree trunks which they defend against all comers, perhaps in order to maintain feeding territories. Tyriobapta torrida are mainly confined to forested swampy areas.

Towards the middle of the day it is common to see males racing back and forth over small pools, chasing each other and mating with females as they arrive to oviposit.

Tyriobapta torrida is the most widespread species among the 3 Tyriobapta species in Sabah. . It is found in the lowlands forested swampy areas.

Both male and female perch vertically on tree trunks which they defend against all comers.

MALE ♂	FEMALE ♀
Eyes of Male Tyriobapta torrida	Eyes of Female Tyriobapta torrida
	Female Tyriobapta torrida
	Female Tyriobapta torrida
	View from top of a female Tyriobapta torrida. The pair of eyes are pale grayish-green with pigmented brown facets (ommatidia) on the top part..
Tyriobapta torrida males are easily identified by this broad, slightly metallic bluish-black area at the base of the hind wings
Tyriobapta torrida is rather ordinary and dull in color with no unique marking on the thorex. It is only the metallic black area at the hind wings that make it looks attractive.	Thorax marking of a matured female. White pruinescence (white powder like) developed over the black thorax marking. This make a matured female look dull in color appearance.
Segment 2 of a matured male Tyriobapta torrida with a pair of extended hamulus. The hamulus is a pair of hooks situated at segment 2 used to hold the female’s genitalia during copulation. The hamulus is also a set of “surgical tool” that a male uses for removing sperm left by other males during previous mating.
	Segment 8,9,10 of a female Tyriobapta torrida
	A female Tyriobapta torrida with eggs. This female was captured in pair while they were copulating. It was amazing to see segment 9 full of eggs sticking together. Just how many eggs this female could possible have? A female spend about 10 minutes in ovipositing by depositing an egg each time the abdomen tip touch the water at a speed of 3 deposit per 2 seconds. So it is about 300 eggs during each 10 minutes session and a female could have several sessions of ovipositng during her life span. That calculated to more that 1,000 eggs a female Tyriobapta torrida could possible produce during her short life. The same female as above. With a This segment full of eggs were fertilized and now ready for ovipositing. From the photo, segment 9 and 10 have half of the abdominal fur (tinny hair) being worn off leaving bare smooth dark skin visible. The smooth part of the abdomen is the tip of the abdomen this female dragonfly used to touch the water surface while dropping the eggs. Repeating hitting the water to completed dropping the few hundred eggs caused this poor mother to worn out her body.

This pair of Tyriobapta torrida were caught in tandem on 22 August 2007 in National Park of Tawau.
Tyriobapta torrida is normally spotted on tree trunk in shady environment.

For unknown reason, Tyriobapta torrida likes hugging tree trunks. Even when disturbed, it will hover away only briefly and return just as promptly. The male (displaying a large black patch at the base of both hind-wings) are always found to be gregarious.

A female Tyriobapta torrida.

This is a medium size dragonfly measuring :
Hind wing span = 64mm
Whole body length = 36mm

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.

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.

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.

GO FURTHER

FLORA

Fig trees of Sabah

Borneo has 150 species of wild fig trees. Most of them are found in forests of Sabah.

FISHERIES

Tiger Prawn Farms in Tawau

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.