Nannophya pygmaea

A male Nannophya pygmaea found in Sri Aman beside a road dranage in March 2013. Together with this one are few other male in the same corner of drain. All perching on tall grasses above water.
No female were seen that morning.

Nannophya pygmaea easily the smallest anisopteran in the region and one of the smallest in the world.
Nannophya pygmaea, also known as the Scarlet Dwarf, Northern Pygmyfly, or Tiny Dragonfly
Belong to the family Libellulidae, native from Southeast Asia to China and Japan, occasionally found south to Australia.

This is the smallest true dragonfly in Borneo Island and one of the smallest in the world. In males, the hindwing is 12 to 13 mm in length and the total body length ranges from 16 to 17 mm.

Widespread, but local, in tropical and subtropical Asia from Nepal and North-east India in the west of Japan and New Guinea in the east.
Found in open grassy swamps and inlets of reservoirs and abandoned paddy fields

Nannophya pygmaea is one of the smallest dragonfly (Anisopterean) species in the world. It is definitely the smallest dragonfly species in Peninsular Malaysia. The size of N. pygmaea is about hw (hind wing) = 12 cm. It has bright red eyes and body, and the bases of hind wings and forewings are yellow tinted. Nannophya pygmaea prefers stagnant open water (such as open swamp and marsh) with grassy vegetation. It is strictly a forest species. The male is red but the female is rather dark brown (with light bands on the abdomen). However, the colour (light brown) of the immature male is similar to that of immature female.

The Largest and Smallest species of Dragonflies in Borneo
Indaeschna grubaueri
Nannophya pygmaea

The Largest Species
♂ Indaeschna grubaueri
body length = 96mm
wingspan = 137mm

The Smallest Species
♂ Nannophya pygmaea
body length = 17.5mm
wingspan = 29mm

This dragonfly of Borneo at left is slightly larger then world size record
Hind Wing Span : 26mm
Body Length : 17.5mm

This species being the smallest of the dragonflies, with a world recorded wingspan of only 20 mm (3/4 in).

Hong Kong record : 20mmX15mm
Singapore record : 27mmX17mm
Dr. Orr record : 26mm X

The male has a red thorax and abdomen. Its eyes are red on top and dark brown below, with a sharp line of delineation. In the female, the dorsum of the thorax is black. The abdomen has transverse bands of brown and white. The eyes are light brown on top and olive green below. The immature male is yellowish brown in colour.

The mature male is almost entire red particularly on its eyes and body.
The immature males is yellowish brown in colour. The female's abdomen has bands of brown and white.

Insects are diverse and dominant inhabitants of the tropical rainforests in Borneo Island. New species are discovered too often. Entomologists are still struggling to cope with the documentation of tropical insect diversity.

Most of the common dragonflies in Sabah are red coloured, especially from the family Libellulidae. Some red pecies are even confused as same species, for example the three species of Genus Neurothemis.

Dragonflies and damselflies have large compound eyes that can see in all directions. When the compound eye is magnified several hundred times, each individual facet (ommatidium) is shown to be hexagonal in shape.

Female dragonflies have either one of the two method of depositing eggs from the abdomen:
1- using Ovipositor Structure
2- using Vulvar Lamina

Male do not have an ovipositor. Instead male dragonfly and damselfly have appendages.

GO FURTHER

FLORA

Fig trees of Sabah

Borneo has 150 species of wild fig trees. Most of them are found in forests of Sabah.

FISHERIES

Tiger Prawn Farms in Tawau

Prawn farming is a main commercial activities in Tawau. Spawners from Tawau are graded the best in Malaysia. For decades, Tawau has been exporting high-grade tiger prawns to several countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Egypt and Australia.