Sydney Mountain Darner at Alpine, NSW
Identification history
| Austroaeschna obscura | 9 Aug 2024 | KorinneM | ||
| Austroaeschna sp. (genus) | 8 Aug 2024 | KorinneM | ||
| Austroaeschna multipunctata | 1 Aug 2024 | JanHartog |
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4 comments
KorinneM
wrote:
8 Aug 2024
I'm not confident to distinguish between A. obscura and A. multipunctata from that photo. Both could potentially be in this location. I'm leaning towards A. obscura.
JanHartog
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
I'm not convinced this is an Austroaeschna obscura. On the basis of which characteristics did you come to this conclusion?
KorinneM
wrote:
11 Aug 2024
@JanHartog I spent quite a long time comparing against both A. obscura and A. multipunctata. It's hard, I will agree, to differentiate with teh one angle and it unfortunately being a further away shot.
The defining feature is "Anterodorsal spots on abdominal terga 3 and 4 generally much reduced or absent, and on 5-7, lacking". vs for multipunctata: "Anterodorsal spots on abdominal terga 3 and 4 generally well
developed, and on 5-7, usually detectable"
To me, there's some hints of maybe 'reflections' in those spots on 6 and 7 and that's it. 4 there's maybe a reflection, or maybe it's something just greatly reduced from the size of 3, which fits more with obscura.
The terga numbering of the abdomenal sections is listed here: http://azdragonfly.org/external-anatomy.
To get an idea of what I'm looking at, compare multipunctata: Austroaeschna multipunctata (Multi-spotted Darner) and obscura: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/202008587 looking at those abdomenal segements. The top view is the easiest to pick it up first.
Is there reasons you're thinking multipunctata?
The defining feature is "Anterodorsal spots on abdominal terga 3 and 4 generally much reduced or absent, and on 5-7, lacking". vs for multipunctata: "Anterodorsal spots on abdominal terga 3 and 4 generally well
developed, and on 5-7, usually detectable"
To me, there's some hints of maybe 'reflections' in those spots on 6 and 7 and that's it. 4 there's maybe a reflection, or maybe it's something just greatly reduced from the size of 3, which fits more with obscura.
The terga numbering of the abdomenal sections is listed here: http://azdragonfly.org/external-anatomy.
To get an idea of what I'm looking at, compare multipunctata: Austroaeschna multipunctata (Multi-spotted Darner) and obscura: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/202008587 looking at those abdomenal segements. The top view is the easiest to pick it up first.
Is there reasons you're thinking multipunctata?
Location information
- Coordinates 150.544100-34.402600
- Maps Alpine Wingecarribee Local Government Area Upper Nepean
- Places Alpine, NSW
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 11 Jan 2024 05:24 AM Recorded on
- JanHartog Recorded by
-
Collections
Insects Dragonflies (Anisoptera) Dragonflies & Damselflies (Odonata) JanHartog
Additional information
- 25mm to 50mm Animal size
Species information
- Austroaeschna obscura Scientific name
- Sydney Mountain Darner Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 871m Recorded at altitude
- Machine learning
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
