Odonata of Oe-Cusse's Journal

In the Satellite imagery and aerial photographs one can see an area South of Lifau monument with a Borasus Palm forest patch. This patch is found within a small depression and stores rain water coming from the micro catchment from surrounding hills (Foraleza to the west, 95m above sea level and Nepokisan at 75 m). This collection was not made by me however the site as per description from the colleague (Daniel Silo) had dried up. While so there were Damselflies around, which I will be uploading shortly.

Having run out of options in and around my place, and given my slow recovery from a debilitating digestive tract infections I decided to more away from town and go towards the border some 700 meter above sea level up. This short visit proved to be very helpful as I documented Trithemis festiva, which I had seen before was never fast enough to set up the camera to photograph it. I did not walk much from the dirt road to reach to each spot and spent less than 30 minutes per spot. Unfortunately I was only able to do sites near the road and I'm still filling a bit iffy of whether I could endure a 2 or a 4 hour hike.

The Odanatans I'm still to document in Oe-Cusse remain: 1-Agriocnemis femina 2- Austroallagma sagittiferum 3-Brachythemis contaminate 4- Diplacodes haematodes 5-Orthetrum caledonicum 6- Orthetrum glaucum 7- Orthetrum pruinosum 8- Trithemis aurora 9- Trithemis lilacina 10- Indolestes lafaeci

1 - Orthetrum Sabina - 2- Orthetrum testaceum - 3- Tramea stenoloba - 4- Neurothemis ramburii- 5- Diplacodes trivialis- 6- Pseudagrion pilidorsum- 7- Anax guttatus- 8- Agriocnemis pygmaea- 9- Nososticta impercepta- 10- Rhinocypha pagenstecheri- 11- Ischnura senegalensis- 12 -Pantala flavescens- 13 - Xiphiagrion cyanomelas - 14 - Trithemis festiva

I decided to go for a walk as I recover from my stomach infection to try to exercise a bit and check the paddy rice fields in Samoro. We parked the car next to an irrigation canal and walked alongside it photographing and collecting different Drangonflies and Damselflies. This spot was really nice to work and I even had some help from some of the farmer's kids. A very nice site super relaxing.
https://www.facebook.com/RuiMiguelDaSilvaPinto/posts/1039453022869543

I’m starting to believe that I have plateaued at 17 species for Oe-Cusse for areas of suitable habitat (0-200 meters above sea level) with relatively slow running water. My last visit to yet another spring in Nipane a spring which I had not recorded in 2015 yielded some 3 species (2 species of Damselflies, and one species of Dragonflies).

Nososticta
Pseudagrion
Orthethrum

Nososticta appears to require ponds and or waterholes with very low to almost inexistent water flow, well shaded places with very good leaf and organic matter. They tended to be found mainly perching on dead leaf patches and this Nososticta is almost imperceptible and well camouflaged in these conditions (teneral stage). The bright orange adults Nososticta appears to be a more active flier than the other (or more easily seen in flight) often perching in branches near the pond.

I have come to realize that at times I spend far to much time taking pictures of specimens rather than taking pictures of the surrounding environment with either a 35mm wider focal length, and this is a flaw in my approach to iNaturalist. I have decided to experiment uploading pictures of the locations and personal notes on flora, geology as well as making available some basic cartography (links to .GPX .Shp files), drone/aerial pictures and so forth to complement the observation. These will be uploaded through journal entries. Please note that this takes a lot of my time, and I will not be able to do all the locations previously collected, but I believe that these notes to be useful for researchers such as @mwnhseehausen and other avid naturalists or researchers interested in gaining better insights into the understudied natural history of Oe-Cusse.

Bolkenat site during the dry season.
During the dry season you tend to find Nososticta impercepta, which was the dominant species here in 2018. The following records were found in this site 13907343, 13907552, 15220267, 15220268, 15220269, 15220270, 15225996, 15242337

During the wet season (end of the wet season) this site has some waterfalls, while so, the water tend to be slow flowing.

The Ulas spring (LAT -9.270233°; LON 124.311997°) is located in Suco Taiboco and is comprised of a remnant forest patch of about 2.5 hectares at 270 meters above sea level. The spring is located Southeast of the road dirt road and this site is market by a majestic Barringtonia tree. C. servilia was found to be the most dominant species found in a 20 meter radius from the Barringtonia tree and the spring as shown in observation 15776678 of a C. servilia perching on a B. racemosa (?) flower.

Water from the spring is retained by means of a rock embankment after which it flows freely Northwest down slope where community members have planted Areca catechu (Areca palms). Given the steep slope water flows relatively fast until it reaches the paddy rice field some 150 meters Northwest of the spring and some 250 meters above sea level.

1 Pseudagrion pilidorsum was found in a pool at 250 m,
2 Trithemis festiva found in a recently harvested rice field
3 Pantala flavescens found in a recently harvested rice field
4 Diplacodes trivialis found in a recently harvested rice field
5 Orthetrum sabina (juvenile?) found in a recently harvested rice field

The Lokpin spring is found in Suco Nipane (LAT:-9.182549° LONG: 124.451064°) did not look like much, however here I have recorded Nososticta impercepta sp. nov. first described by @@mwnhseehausen, Pseudagrion pilidorsum and Orthetrum testaceum. Most of the N. impercepta were found in pools similar to this one.

Located soon after Holokhau paddy rice fields, along the road to Tulaika, some 2.8 Kilometer from Tono bridge west abutment, Tulaika edge (LAT:-9.219803°; LONG: 124.293919°) is site located close to paddy rice fields and is made of different small pools where cattle and water buffaloes tend to use to bath and as a drinking holes during the dry season.

The water from this system drains from the paddy rice fields towards Noe Nitu creek, this water is channeled (during the wet season) by means of clay canals build by the farmers. Water flows freely during the rainy season and kids often bath in these improvised canals.

This site has, as mentioned before clayish soils. The predominant trees some living fences (Lannea coromandelica) and some Borassus palms. This site has limited to no shade. The main invasive species found here is J. gossypifolia found in scatered patches (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1- Pond

Dragonflies tended to be found in medium patch of Vitex trifolia. Here in August 2018, the dominant species tended to be O. sabina, and the rare O. testaceum. D. trivialis tended to be more common along the overgrazed grasses with the occasional one venturing close to the Vitex patch (Fig.2).

Fig. 4- Vitex patch

Most of the Damselflies tended to occur one meter from the water edge (mainly towards the deeper side of the pond). Damsels with often perch on pond scum/filamentous algae patches (see Fig.1).

Kolam Xina, is a fairly nice site to visit from NOV-AUG. This site located next to the Lifau Monument, (LAT. -9.199575°; LONG. 124.310529°) is composed of a flood plain with water flowing from different rice fields into two larger ponds (ponds/"kolam"). During the different visits to this site the best area thus far to photograph Odonatans has been that located in the aforementioned coordinates.

Fig. 1 - Rice fields (landside) and Spinifex grass (beach side)

This site has the usual coastal vegetation found throughout Oe-Cusse. On the beach side vegetation starts with Spinifex grass closer to the ocean, followed by Ipomea pes caprae, and Vitex trifolia on the edges of the pond. Jatropha takes over patches of Spinifex that have been cleared by means of fire.

Fig. 2 - The brackish water pond

Borassus palms are found growing after the Vitex trifolias as you move towards the land side. The road that takes you to this pond has majestic Tamarind trees and Chinese Jujube (Zyziphus) trees. Ground birds are commonly spotted here along with other shore birds, doves, and King fishers.

Fig. 3 - Borassus palms

The species recorded in this site include:

• Diplacodes trivialis; Click here to see a record of this species for this site
• Pantala flavescens; Click here to see a record of this species in this site.
• Orthetrum sabina; Click here to see a record of this species for this site
• Crocothemis servilia; Click here to see a record of this species for this site

The water from the ponds then flows to the ocean by means of an improvised canal which is maintained by the farmers.

Access and Location
Aosnak river is one of the few freshwater rivers in Pante Macassar, Sub-Region that flows throughout the year. Located on the road towards the Sakato border (eastern border with Indonesia), about two kilometers east of the Kitahara bay where the Mahata harbor is located., this site is easily accessed by car, motorbike or bicycle. The first settlement found after Mahata is called Kuatnana, where a bridge is being constructed over river Haukeh, which is used to access to Kutete (some 3.5-4 hour hike). The Aosnak bridge, much like the Mahata bridge (over river Haukeh) is currently under construction and is expected to be finalized in December, 2018. The Aosnak river mouth is marked by Nuaf Pono hill (60 meter above sea level) and a dense coastal forest remnant occupying short of one hectare. At the beach front, the vegetation resembles that of other coastal areas in Oe-Cusse found in other site descriptions.

Aosnak Rivermouth (Beach side)
The first large pool of water (LAT: -9.181818°; LONG: 124.404651°) was found to host D. trivialis, and Ischnura senegalensis.

Fig.1-Aosnak river
Most of the river flows in alluvial ground with occasional ponds being formed over some exposed bedrock. A DEM has been created for this, please email me in case you need the model.

Aosnak (first landside pool)
The first landside pool (LAT: -9.183675°; LONG: 124.405962°) was found to host Neurothemis ramburii, O. testaceum,

Fig.2-Aosnak river

Aosnak (second landside pool)
The second landside pool (LAT: -9.183966°; LONG: 124.407996°) was found to host O. sabina,

Fig.3-Aosnak river

Aosnak (thirds landside pool)
The second landside pool (LAT: -9.189884°; LONG: 124.413125°) was found to host Xiphiagrion cyanomelas

Fig.4-Aosnak river