What's New
New Dragonfly Record to Hong Kong: Indothemis carnatica (Fabricius, 1798)
A dragonfly species new to Hong Kong, Indothemis carnatica (Black Marsh Skimmer), was recorded by AFCD officers in April 2018. On 4 April 2018, a male Indothemis carnatica (Black Marsh Skimmer) was observed at a pond in Northwest New Territories by the ecological surveyors of AFCD. The Dragonfly Working Group visited the same site on 5 and 9 April, when pairing and two males of I. carnatica were recorded respectively. These observations represent the first male and female records of I. carnatica in Hong Kong.
Indothemis carnatica is a medium-sized libellulid dragonfly inhabiting weedy lakes and ponds. Male is violetish black with two rows of black stripes on the dorsum of the abdomen and pale yellow anal appendages. Frons is metallic violet-black and compound eyes are violaceous above and paler below. Female is very different in appearance and has golden yellow abdomen with a bright yellow frons, compound eyes brown above and golden yellow below. Female I. carnatica resembles the females of Trithemis aurora (Crimson Dropwing) and T. festiva (Indigo Dropwing), which are common species in Hong Kong, but I. carnatica has much smaller marking (only a point of amber) at the base of hindwing.
Indothemis carnatica is known from India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, but there are recent records from Vietnam and China (including Guangdong and Yunnan). The species is listed by IUCN as Near Threatened and is considered vagrant in Hong Kong at this stage. Its recent records have lifted the total number of dragonfly species recorded in Hong Kong to 125.
Acknowledgement: We would like to thank Dr. Zhang Hao-miao for his assistance in the identification of our photographic records of Indothemis carnatica and provision of information about the distribution of the species in China.
