If you are in weedy ponds, sluggish streams, ditches, in Asian countries, you can be prepared to see "the jewel" fly and perch on dry twigs in the water, vegetation water or grass growing by the pond, or stones there. It's small, but it won't let you down. Its small body is decorated by attractive colors such as orange, reddish brown, and especially the red pterostigma cells, plus its transparent wings.
It is in the family Libellulidae, the skimmers or perchers. When you see it twirling above the ground, you immediately know why it's in the genus Brachythemis, commonly known as groundlings. They are indeed the "players" at the bottom, on the ground. And that's what I shot above a pond near the river's flow is a male Brachythemis contaminata (Fabricius, 1793), a species that is widely distributed in Asian countries. While this one is a male in northern Sumatra. When I shot it, it was perched on a dry twig in the pond, flew several times but landed there again. This is the Ditch jewel (male)!
(Sources : Brachythemis contaminata (Fabricius, 1793); Brachythemis; Libellulidae)
Red pterostigma.
