Diplacodes bipunctata

1 Wandering Percher at Amaroo, ACT

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Identification history

Diplacodes bipunctata	6 May 2017	roymcd
Diplacodes bipunctata	5 May 2017	roymcd
Orthetrum caledonicum	1 May 2017	roymcd
Unidentified	24 Apr 2017	MatthewFrawley

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6 comments

roymcd wrote:

27 Apr 2017

Thanks Matthew for the great shots, I've tentatively put this down as a female Blue Skimmer that has just emerged, but I'll let Harvey take a closer look.

Kind regards, Roy :-)

roymcd wrote:

6 May 2017

Hmm when I tilt my computer screen on photo three I see possible hints of a dorsal line similar to a Wandering Percher.

HarveyPerkins wrote:

7 May 2017

Hi Roy, this is a really difficult one as it is a very newly emerged individual and markings are not at all developed yet. While I don't disagree, and think Wandering Percher is most likely, was just wondering why you chose wandering over Scarlet.

HarveyPerkins wrote:

7 May 2017

Hi Matt, can you please just confirm that this observation was on 22 April. I don't doubt it, but it is a very late emergence and is an interesting record from that perspective. Sadly, she won't have had a very long stint in the sun.

roymcd wrote:

8 May 2017

Hi Harvey, thanks for your comments.
I was thinking this individual's abdomen was rather 'straight' and didn't havn't a slight tapering shape as a Scarlet Percher might.

I was also looking at the artist's depiction in Theischinger and Hawking, p. 276, and it seemed to me that abdomen of the female Wandering Percher is depicted with a slight line intersecting some of the 'arrowhead' shapes, while the female Scarlet Percher has an 'arrowhead' without the line.

So looking at the picture 3 of this individual I was thinking there was a slight suggestion of the intersecting line, (but I'm splitting hairs a bit I think).

Kind regards, Roy.

MatthewFrawley wrote:

9 May 2017

Hi Roy, yes I can confirm the photo was definitely taken on 22 April. Just a note on the behaviour of this dragonfly. I noticed it flying slowly and then land on the grass. I went up close to take a photo and it flew again, but slowly and only a short distance before landing again. Without knowing much about dragonflies and all my previous observations is that they fly fast and for long distances, my thought was the slow and brief flight was either because it was young or injured.

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