Cape Dragonflies

There are 324 species of dragonflies and damselflies in Australia! And over 5,000 worldwide. 

They all belong to the insect Order Odonata, which has an ancient lineage stretching back at least to the Upper Carboniferous 325 million years ago - they saw the dinosaurs come and go.

They can be divided into two distinct groups, the damselflies (Zygoptera), and the dragonflies (Epiproctophora = Epiprocta, formerly Anisoptera). In Australia, the damselflies fall into 12 families, and the dragonflies into 18 families (depending on which taxonomy you follow!).

Damselflies tend to be very slender, graceful, and generally hold their wings closed along their abdomen, whereas dragonflies are comparatively robust and hold their wings flat and perpendicular to their bodies.

On a bird banding trip come family holiday to Cape York and the Cairns area in far north Queensland in Nov-Dec 2011, I opportunistically photographed 12 of the 324 Australian species, representing one of the damselfly families and four of the dragonfly families.

Diphlebiidae

This is a small family, sometimes known as the 'azure damselflies' or 'rockmasters'. Unlike most damselflies, they hold their wings away from the body, like some sort of wayward helicopter, rather than closed along the abdomen.  It comprises just two genera: Philoganga from South-East Asia (4 species), and Diphlebia (5 species) which is restricted to the east coast of Australia except for one species that extends to New Guinea. Their habitat is streams and rivers.

The Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides occurs in far north-east Queensland (and yes, this is the one that also extends to New Guinea), and inhabits streams and rivers, including those that may dry to pools. Mature males have extensively darkened wings; the first two photos below are of young males with relatively clear wings. Females are golden-brown in colour rather than the striking blue and black of the males. In my experience, which is limited, these appear to be quite common as I saw them at Mt Hypipamee on my first trip to the region in Nov 2005, and again at several places on the 2011 trip; always near fast flowing rivers. They're stunning!

Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides (Diphlebiidae),
Mossman Gorge, 30 Nov 2011.

Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides (Diphlebiidae),
Mossman Gorge, 30 Nov 2011.

Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides (Diphlebiidae),
Woogabba Creek, Bloomfield, 26 Nov 2011.

Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides (Diphlebiidae),
Woogabba Creek, Bloomfield, 26 Nov 2011.

Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides (Diphlebiidae),
Woogabba Creek, Bloomfield, 26 Nov 2011.

Telephlebiidae

This family includes 39 species in eight endemic Australian genera (and as far as I’ve been able to determine only occurs in Australia). It is essentially a family of eastern Australia, though there is a single species in WA, and the adults are generally known as the ‘southern darners’. Its status as a family, rather than being treated as a subfamily of the Aeshnidae, is disputed by some. They are large, slender dragonflies that are associated with running fresh water from tropical rainforests to alpine environments, and even sand dunes.

The Green-striped Darner Austroaeschna forcipata occurs in far north-east Queensland, where it is largely restricted to rainforest streams. The one below certainly fitted this criterion as it hung immobile in the dense shade of rainforest plants adjacent to a tiny creek near our mountain accommodation in the Daintree. 

Green-striped Darner Austroaeschna forcipata (Telephlebiidae),
Daintree, 29 Nov 2011.

Lindeniidae

This family, the ‘tigers’ or 'wingtails' is recently split from Gomphidae, an action which is far from universally accepted by taxonomists. They are medium-sized to large black and yellow dragonflies, with clear wings, and the eyes are distinctively widely separated, never meeting on top of the head. This latter characteristic is more typical of damselflies. The family is represented in Australia by just three species of Ictinogomphus, all endemic,  but the genus is represented by a further 13 species in Africa and Asia.

The Australian Tiger Ictinogomphus australis inhabits both flowing and still waters - rivers, riverine lagoons, lakes, and ponds - throughout eastern and northern Australia. The one below was photographed at the Cattana Wetlands in northern Cairns. 

The other two Australian species are more localised; one to the northern tip of Cape York, the other to the Pilbara.

Australian Tiger Ictinogomphus australis (Lindeniidae),
Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, 28 Nov 2011.

Gomphidae

Commonly referred to as ‘clubtail dragonflies’, or just ‘clubtails’, this is a large family of about 90 genera and 900 odd species worldwide. They also have widely separated eyes. Most species are associated with flowing streams or rivers. Seven genera, of which five appear to be endemic, account for the 36 species in Australia.

The Zebra Vicetail Hemigomphus comitatus occurs along streams and rivers in far north-eastern Queensland. The ones I saw were on Woogabba Creek, in the rainforest to the east of Wujal Wujal and a little south of the Bloomfield River (the banner photo at the top of this post shows the habitat). 

Zebra Vicetail Hemigomphus comitatus (Gomphidae),
Woogabba Creek, Bloomfield, 26 Nov 2011.

Zebra Vicetail Hemigomphus comitatus (Gomphidae),
Woogabba Creek, Bloomfield, 26 Nov 2011.

The Rainforest Vicetail Hemigomphus theischingeri also occurs only in far north-eastern Queensland, but unlike the Zebra Vicetail appears to be restricted to rainforest streams. I saw both the Zebra and the Rainforest together at Woogabba Creek. 

Rainforest Vicetail Hemigomphus theischingeri (Gomphidae),
Woogabba Creek, Bloomfield, 26 Nov 2011.

Libellulidae

This is the largest family of dragonflies, with well over a thousand species in about 140 genera worldwide. It includes the ‘skimmers’, the ‘perchers’, ‘gliders’, and their allies, many of which are brightly coloured and obvious, and represent the most commonly seen dragonflies. Despite their prevalence, they are comparatively under-represented in Australia, which has a more Gondwanan bias to its dragonfly fauna, but there are nevertheless around 50 species of Libellulidae in Australia.

The Striped Swampdragon Agrionoptera longitudinalis is associated with shady pools and tree holes, again from far north-eastern Queensland, but also extending into New Guinea. The one below was in the same Daintree rainforest garden as the Green-striped Darner above - it was a very profitable two-night stay for us (or at least for my dragonfly photo 'collection') and lived up to its name of Eden Escape.

Striped Swampdragon Agrionoptera longitudinalis biserialis (Libellulidae),
Daintree, 29 Nov 2011.

The Australasian Slimwing Lathrecista asiatica has a distribution stretching from India, through South-East Asia, to northern and north-eastern Australia; the Australian subspecies, festa, apparently being endemic. Based on the number of photos picked up by Google Images, this appears to be a fairly common species, and adults may be encountered far from water as well as near streams, rivers, lagoons and swamps. The ones I saw were in rainforest clearings at several places in Iron Range National Park (now called Kutini-Payamu NP). The females look quite different to the brighter red and green males. 

Australasian Slimwing Lathrecista asiatica festa (Libellulidae),
West Claudie River, Iron Range NP, 23 Nov 2011.

Australasian Slimwing Lathrecista asiatica festa (Libellulidae),
Scrubby Creek, Iron Range NP, 22 Nov 2011.

Australasian Slimwing Lathrecista asiatica festa, female, (Libellulidae),
Scrubby Creek, Iron Range NP, 22 Nov 2011.

The Green Skimmer Orthetrum serapia is a species that prefers a variety of still or sluggish waters, and is distributed from the Philippines, through the south-west Pacific, and across far north-eastern and northern Australia. It is markedly different in appearance to several other species in the genus such as the common and widespread Blue Skimmer Orthetrum caledonicum, a chalky-blue dragonfly (at least the male is) that I seem to see pretty much wherever I go. The Green Skimmer I saw, very briefly, was at the Cattana Wetlands in northern Cairns, and the posture of this one, in the only photograph I managed to get, made it quite difficult for me to figure out what species it was. 

Green Skimmer Orthetrum serapia (Libellulidae),
Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, 28 Nov 2011.

The Painted Grasshawk Neurothemis stigmatizans is another common dragonfly that I saw in lots of places around Iron Range NP, the Daintree region, and have also previously seen around Darwin and Litchfield National Park. They are very distinctive and immediately recognisable. They occur across the Top End and down the Queensland east coast (as well as to the north of Australia), breeding in a range of still waters, and are frequently seen congregating in clearings or grassy areas.

Painted Grasshawk Neurothemis stigmatizans stigmatizans (Libellulidae),
West Claudie River, Iron Range NP, 23 Nov 2011.

Painted Grasshawk Neurothemis stigmatizans stigmatizans (Libellulidae),
West Claudie River, Iron Range NP, 23 Nov 2011.

Painted Grasshawk Neurothemis stigmatizans stigmatizans, female, (Libellulidae),
Daintree, 29 Nov 2011.

The Graphic Flutterer Rhyothemis graphiptera is also instantly recognisable and the ones I saw lived up to the name as they fluttered above and between the reeds at the edge of Lake Barrine in the Atherton Tablelands. They occur around riverine lagoons, lakes, ponds and swamps across much of Australia, and also in the Moluccas, New Guinea and New Caledonia.

Graphic Flutterer Rhyothemis graphiptera (Libellulidae),
Lake Barrine, Atherton Tablelands, 2 Dec 2011.

I first saw a Yellow-striped Flutterer, Rhyothemis phyllis, at the settling ponds of the Lockhart River sewage works (sewage works are always a great place for birds and dragonflies!) and was stunned. I hadn't seen a dragonfly anything like this before, but it was early days and I saw lots more of them in various places over the course of the trip. This species prefers a range of still waters, and apart from occurring across the Top End and eastern Queensland, is also found from Burma (Myanmar) to the western and southern Pacific. 

Yellow-striped Flutterer Rhyothemis phyllis (Libellulidae),
Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, 28 Nov 2011.

Yellow-striped Flutterer Rhyothemis phyllis (Libellulidae), 
Lockhart River, 22 Nov 2011.

And finally, the Common Glider Tramea loewii. This is a very common and widespread species in Australia and, unlike most of the species featured in this post, I'd seen it many times previously in all sorts of places. This one was at the Cattana Wetlands in Cairns. They utilise a wide range of still waters but I've also seen them far from water and they are clearly happy to fly large distances. They have a wide distribution stretching from the Cocos Islands, across Wallacea and New Guinea, to New Caledonia and the western Pacific

Common Glider Tramea loewii (Libellulidae),
Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, 28 Nov 2011.

My main reference for dragonflies is The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia by Gunther Theischinger and John Hawking (CSIRO Publishing, 2006) - a really excellent guide and resource. They follow a tendency to 'split' families as taxonomic research advances, but as touched on above, the revisions are not necessarily accepted by all authorities (nothing new there!) For me, irrespective of any taxonomic or ecologico-political reasons, splitting at least gives a better 'feel' for the relatedness of the different species and groupings. 

Below I've included a table that I compiled, mainly for my own benefit, that lists the odonate families that occur in Australia and indicates the number of genera and species in each (also just for Australia - and bearing in mind that such numbers are constantly in flux, due as much to differences in taxonomic opinion as to advances in research, and are, in the end, and to use an often-used expression of a friend of mine, just a human conceit!).

Another great resource is the Identification Guide to the Australian Odonata put out in 2009 by the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (available as a pdf at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/publications/09730AustOdonata.pdf ), and it's worth having a look at  at Australian Damselfly and Dragonfly Photography at  http://dl.id.au/g.php?c=3

Happy dragon-watching!

Traditional	Theischinger and Hawking 2006	Group Name (T&H 2006)	Genera	Species
Suborder Zygoptera	Suborder Zygoptera	Damselflies	37	113
Diphlebiidae	Diphlebiidae	Rockmasters	1	5
Chlorocyphidae	Chlorocyphidae	Jewels	1	1
Calopterygidae	Calopterygidae	Demoiselles	1	1
Hemiphlebiidae	Hemiphlebiidae	Greenlings	1	1
Synlestidae	Chorismagrionidae	Relicts	1	1
	Synlestidae	Sylphs/Malachites	2	6
Lestidae	Lestidae	Spreadwings/Reedlings	3	14
Lestoideidae	Lestoideidae	Bluestreaks	1	4
Megapodagrionidae	Megapodagrionidae	Flatwings	5	22
Protoneuridae	Protoneuridae	Threadtails/Pinflies	1	12
Isostictidae	Isostictidae	Narrow-wings	7	15
Coenagrionidae	Coenagrionidae	Pond Damsels	13	31
Suborder Anisoptera	Suborder Epiproctophora, infraorder Anisoptera	Dragonflies proper	75	211
Petaluridae	Petaluridae	Petaltails	1	5
Austropetaliidae	Archipetaliidae	Tasmanian Redspots	1	1
	Austropetaliidae	Mainland Redspots	1	2
Aeshnidae	Telephlebiidae	Southern Darners	8	35
	Aeshnidae	Hawkers	7	13
Gomphidae	Lindeniidae	Tigers/Wingtails	1	3
	Gomphidae	Clubtails	7	36
Synthemistidae	Synthemistidae	Tigertails/Southern Emeralds	8	26
Corduliidae	Gomphomacromiidae	Urflies	1	2
	Pseudocorduliidae	Mistflies	1	2
	Macromiidae	Cruisers	1	2
	Austrocorduliidae	Southern Hawks	5	10
	Cordulephyidae	Shutwings	1	4
	Oxygastridae	Streamcruisers	1	1
	Corduliidae	Emeralds	2	2
	Hemicorduliidae	Modern Emeralds	2	11
Libellulidae	Urothemistidae	Baskers	3	4
	Libellulidae	Skimmers/Perchers	24	52

The Bee and the Wasp

Back in November 2012, the bird-banding at our regular site at The Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve, not far from West Wyalong in central-west New South Wales, was keeping us occupied if not busy, and I had time to follow the activities of several solitary bees that I was not aware of having noticed on any previous trips.

Throughout the Saturday (3 Nov 2012), single bees were seen hovering low over the bare dry ground around our banding station. After what seemed to me a fairly prolonged inspection, the bees would decide that one spot that looked pretty much like any other spot was a good place to initiate a burrow. I don’t now recall how long they spent excavating these burrows, but by the end of the day there were probably 5 or 6 burrows scattered about in the immediate vicinity of our banding tables.

A solitary bee hovering just above the ground, looking to excavate a burrow.

When seen from above, the inspecting bees were clean and attractively patterned with white banding on the abdomen, a buff furriness to the thorax, and a yellowish face. It was this colour scheme, and their persistent hovering behaviour just a few inches above the ground, that drew my attention to them.

A solitary bee relocating its burrow.

As their burrowing continued the bees became progressively drab and dusty.

A solitary bee in the early stages of burrow excavation.

A solitary bee in action excavating its burrow

The bees became more and more dusty as the burrowing progressed.

The following day, the bees had essentially disappeared (though there was at least one still finishing off an excavation), and instead a brightly coloured wasp was seen hovering about in their place (there may have been more than one – I can’t clearly recall).

But it was clear to me from the general shape of these wasps that they were a type of parasitic wasp of the Evanioidea superfamily, and it didn’t take long to realise they were interested in the bees’ burrows. The implication being that these wasps parasitise the bees by laying their own eggs in the bees' burrows, to hatch and avail themselves of the food store provided by the bee for its larvae, or to feed on the growing bee larva itself. The host specificity of such interactions can sometimes be quite tight.

This parasitic wasp was hovering about in the same area the solitary bees had been the day before.
(Pseudofoenus sp. Hyptiogastrinae, Gasteruptiidae)

I spent several minutes watching and photographing one of these wasps sussing out one of the burrows, but then had to leave to check the mist nets for birds and didn’t pursue the vaguely Aesopian story of the bee and the wasp any further.

The wasp homed in on one of the solitary bee's burrows...
 (Pseudofoenus sp. Hyptiogastrinae, Gasteruptiidae)

... landed, and spent quite a while "smelling" the burrow entrance with its antennae...
(Pseudofoenus sp. Hyptiogastrinae, Gasteruptiidae)

... before finally entering head-first into the burrow.
(Pseudofoenus sp. Hyptiogastrinae, Gasteruptiidae)

But more recently, and since starting this blog, I’ve been inspired to do a bit of research on these two and their interaction (ain’t the web a wonderful thing).

It turns out that the wasp is a species of Pseudofoenus, which is one of two genera (the other being Hyptiogaster) in the subfamily Hyptiogastrinae of the family Gasteruptiidae (which is indeed in the superfamily Evanioidea).

According to the CSIRO website (http://anic.ento.csiro.au/insectfamilies/biota_details.aspx?OrderID=27447&BiotaID=29799&PageID=families ) the “Gasteruptiidae are one on the most easily recognised families of parasitic wasps. They are particularly distinctive because of their slender subclavate metasoma, the dorsal articulation of the metasoma to the propodeum, the elongate neck-like propleura, and expanded hind tibia.” - I think this means they have a thin machete-shaped abdomen that hinges out from near the top of the thorax rather than lower down, and have fat hind legs.

Pseudofoenus sp. (Hyptiogastrinae, Gasteruptiidae) at Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve, NSW.

Pseudofoenus sp. (Hyptiogastrinae, Gasteruptiidae) at Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve, NSW.

My Google-searching led me not only to Pseudofoenus, but also to a guy called John Jennings at the University of Adelaide who is a specialist on these wasps and has done a fairly comprehensive review of the genus. I got in touch with John and he kindly confirmed that my photos were of a Pseudofoenus species, but that “there are still many undescribed species”, and that he’d be happy to receive a specimen in alcohol if I was to see them again. Not sure what this means with respect to my wasp, but I certainly couldn’t find any images on the web that looked anywhere near as bright or with as much yellow as this one. Most are a dark reddish-brown in colour.

It seems the genus Pseudofoenus has a fairly restricted Gondwanan distribution with the majority of species being endemic to Australia (66 described so far), particularly the south-west, with others found in New Guinea and New Britain (5 species), New Caledonia, New Hebrides and Fiji (2), New Zealand (4), and South America (2 species).

So much for the wasp; what about the bees?

Despite a fair bit of effort, I haven’t really been able to narrow down the options at all well. I haven’t found anything that looks specifically like these bees, but did find lots of images of lots of bees, even from different families, that looked sort of similar. And my inexperience precludes me from being able to discriminate between or weight the possibilities. L

A solitary bee, most likely from either Stenotritidae or Colletidae families. 
(Postscript: this is most likely a species of Stenotritus - see below.)

John Jennings and Andrew Austin, in their 2002 review in Invertebrate Systematics (http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=IT01048.pdf ), state that “The hosts of very few species have been determined, but the few available records indicate that members of Pseudofoenus s.l. are predator-inquilines of colletid, halictid, masarine, and stenotritid bees.”

I think I can eliminate Halictidae, and Masarinae (which are the pollen wasps, a subfamily of Vespidae rather than bees), but Colletidae and Stenotritidae are still options. On balance, I’d like to think my bees are stenotritids (giving the option of either Stenotritus or Ctenocolletes), but I’d love to hear from anyone who might be able to give me a more definitive identification.

So this story doesn't really have an end, but I do wonder how tight the specificity these wasps might have for these particular bees is?

POSTSCRIPT (September 2014)

Subsequent to posting this article I made contact with Associate Professor Michael Schwarz from Flinders University in South Australia (a bee expert suggested by Dr David Yeates, Director of the Australian National Insect Collection - thanks David), as well as Dr Remko Leijs, Honourary Research Fellow at the South Australian Museum (thanks to John Jennings for this suggestion). Both were of the opinion that the bee in question is a species of Stenotritus. Specimens would need to be taken to attempt a more detailed ID, but both also made the point that there are likely many species that remain undescribed. 

So there is certainly a possibility that both the wasp and the bee are as yet undescribed species. I’ll certainly bee keeping (groan - sorry!) an eye out when bird banding at Charcoal Tank over the coming season...


POSTSCRIPT 2 (November 2014)

On the weekend of 14 -16 November I was back out at Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve for bird banding. The weather was rather extreme – 42 degrees when we arrived about 1:30 pm on Friday, dropping to 22 degrees by the following evening, and rain all Saturday night.

The rainfall patterns over the three months leading up to this weekend were very dry and quite different to those of two years previously when I last saw the bees, so I wasn’t overly optimistic of seeing them again. Nevertheless, after no sign of them in the heat of Friday afternoon, on the Saturday afternoon, about 2 pm, we did see a single stenotritid bee hovering over the same area where I’d seen them before. A bit later a second bee was seen. They seemed a bit more wary than last time, but perhaps that was because there were more people about and we were stationed slightly closer to where they were hovering.

Anyway, the short of it is I managed to collect one of these bees. I was reluctant to try for the other one as they don’t appear to be very numerous.

The bee is currently at home in the freezer in ethanol, but will be sent to Michael Schwarz to be included in some bee sequencing work by a past honours student over the coming months. Stay tuned...