Sarasaeschna group

Family Aeshnidae

Sarasaeschna previously Oligoaeschna martini?

Lieftinck, 1968

Elevation 1500 - 2000m

Abdomen length 38-39mm

This one presents many problems as it almost fits the descriptions in Fraser 1934 of Jagoria martini Laidlaw,1921. But this one was reassigned to Oligoaeschna by Lieftinck as he attempted to characterize the genera together under this name. The name was changed again to Sarasaeschna by Karube and Yeh, 2014. According to Lieftinck, there were a few solitary females such as the one I have photographed here. It seems to fit the details of O. decorata. However, I originally put this as O. martini because of the description in Fraser, 1936 of Jagoria martini, but Lieftinck also mentions that Fraser places the female he describes as J. martini but his drawings of the female appendages are much closer to O. decorata. There is still some confusion as to what this one might actually be. So excuse the uncertainty of this identification but given the resources I have, I believe this is as close as I can get. Distribution is listed as Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Female

Sarasaeschna sp.nov.
Karube & Yeh, 2001
Elevation 2400m

I was looking for Epiophlebia laidlawi on Sim Bhanjang pass at about 2400m. It was early July and I hoped I wasn't too late for E. laidlawi. A good number of larvae were found in the stream some years back. Since that time the stream has been dammed and reduced to a dirty trickle. The possibility of finding larvae or adults in Sim Khola was remote. So I went over Sim Bhanjang pass to a feeder stream. Then I spotted this Aeschna type flying in the stream bed - not so fast but patrolling a particular area. I was able to get some photos but could not get a specimen. This area has since had serious habitat damage from a large number of earthquake victims being moved nearby. I hope to try again to find this one but habitat changes are fairly extreme.