New Hainan Client, Nanhai Net, Nanguo Metropolis Daily, July 31 (reporter Tan Qi intern Ni Haihuai) red abdomen, transparent wings, this beautiful dragonfly stopped on the branches of the tree to rest, Haikou Haoyu Wetland Research Institute project director Yuan Langxing took a photo for it, but did not want this to be a new discovery. On July 29, Yuan Langxing discovered the red-bellied heterogeneous dragonfly during the implementation of an amphibian and reptile monitoring project in Haikou Wuyuanhe National Wetland Park, which is also the first time that traces of the red-bellied heterodister were found in Hainan.
Red-bellied heterogeneous dragonfly. Photo by Yuan Langxing
The "red-bellied" dragonfly that has never been seen before
The night after the rain, when the two reptiles were most active, Yuan Langxing and his team looked for them in the Wuyuanhe National Wetland Park. "When the lights swept over a beautiful dragonfly, I photographed it." Yuan Langxing said that the monitoring of dragonflies is generally in the daytime, less at night, and he does not know much about dragonflies and does not pay attention to them.
When sorting out the photos the next day, Yuan Langxing and his colleagues saw this photo of the dragonfly, and the dragonfly's short and red abdomen caught their attention. "Unlike our common dragonflies, the abdomen is relatively short, and the whole proportion does not look as slender as a normal dragonfly." Yuan Langxing opened the "Land of Dragonflies - Hainan Dragonfly Atlas", and compared the more similar red brown gray dragonfly and gorgeous gray dragonfly, and the feeling was also different. In the "Other Categories" on the last few pages of "The Land of Dragonflies - Atlas of Dragonflies in Hainan", a short-bellied heterogeneous dragonfly that resembles the dragonflies in the photos was found.
This dragonfly has never been found in Hainan, and in order to get an authoritative answer, Yuan Langxing contacted Zhang Haomiao, a doctor of entomology, the author of "The Land of Dragonflies - Hainan Dragonfly Atlas". After seeing Yuan Langxingfa's past pictures, Zhang Haomiao gave the answer: "This is a new discovery of the Hainan dragonfly species - the red-bellied dragonfly." ”
New discoveries of Species of Dragonfly in Hainan
Zhang Haomiao is an expert in the taxonomy, ecology and phylogenetic development of dragonflies at the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has covered hundreds of nature reserves in Asia, Europe and Africa in the past 20 years of field expeditions. Zhang Haomiao has been investigating Hainan for more than ten years, and the published "Land of Dragonflies in Hainan Dragonfly Atlas" shows the form, habits and characteristics of dragonflies commonly found on Hainan Island. According to Zhang Haomiao's book, Hainan's diversified freshwater habitat has bred 165 species of dragonflies, of which 22 species are unique to Hainan Island.
"In the more than ten years of investigation of dragonflies in Hainan, no trace of red-bellied dragonflies has been found, which is the first time." Zhang Haomiao said that the short-bellied heterogeneous dragonfly has now been renamed the red-bellied heterogeneous dragonfly, and researchers have previously found it in Yunnan and Hong Kong, considering that the species has a natural diffusion process, the discovery of the red-bellied heterodalum may be the result of climate change or natural migration. "The species and number of dragonflies is an important indicator of wetland health." Lu Gang, director of the Haikou Haolan Wetland Research Institute, introduced that the discovery of red-bellied insects in Hainan not only enriched the resources of animals and plants in Hainan and Haikou, but also showed that the environment of Haikou Wuyuanhe National Wetland Park has been well protected in recent years, and good wetland habitats provide good habitats for many animals and plants.