John&Jacq~s Garden

Surprise garden visit from the Red Grasshawk dragonfly

Neurothemis fluctuans (Red Grasshawk dragonfly)

I just love it if an insect visits our garden when least expected, like a visiting relative! :D

This gorgeous looking Red Grasshawk dragonfly flew in and perched on the leaf tip of Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Golden Hahnii’ whilst I was happily snapping the colorful mounds of Ruellia Brittoniana ‘Katie’ that grow beside it in our flower bed. What a marvelous surprise!

Of course, my instantaneous response was to switch my camera to it! Afraid that it’d leave as fast as it flew in, I went clicking as many photos as I could possibly capture. However to my profound amazement, it stayed on the leaf tip moving ever so slightly and actually posed for quite awhile, enabling me to become more composed and focused in my task! What a joyful surprise when I downloaded the images into my computer and found that I’ve almost 20 pictures taken within 6 full minutes, of which only 5 initial images were blurry due to my anxious excitement in the beginning! How blessed and grateful I felt for this wonderful opportunity to see it up close, almost able to touch it if I chose to! :D

This male Red Grasshawk dragonfly is an absolute beauty, no doubt about that! More amazing when viewed through the camera lens and on my computer!

Such incredible patterns and lines on its reddish earth-toned wings with transparent wing-tip that has a dash of orange-red band too! So beautiful, even though it is a very common dragonfly in our tropical country, Malaysia!

The female species isn’t this colorful, though.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Neurothemis fluctuans (Fabricius, 1793)
• Common name: Red Grasshawk dragonfly
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Odonata
• Suborder: Anisoptera
• Superfamily: Libelluloidea
• Family – Libellulidae
• Genus – Neurothemis
• Species – fluctuans

Habitat: Lakes, drains and marshes, forest fringes and secondary vegetation.

Distribution in Asia: China, Indonesia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Lest I forget, Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing Anisoptera (dragonflies) and Zygoptera (damselflies). Click to enjoy an impressively large gallery of Odonata photographs from the University of Michigan!

Last edited: May 28, 2016

Tags: dragonflies/damselflies, our garden, wildlife