A colourful, handsomely marked dragonfly that our book says is uncommon in Singapore, though we seemed to find quite a few of them, notably in the Singapore Botanic Gardens and in Kent Ridge Park. Confusion is supposedly possible with the also red Lathrecista asiatica (Scarlet Grenadier) but I don’t think they’re that similar.
There are several subspecies, the one in SE Asia being A. insignis insignis (Grenadier). In Australia there is a different subspecies, which I snapped (rather poorly) on my FNQ 2022 trip, namely A. insignis allogenes (Red Swampdragon). Spotting a noticeable difference may prove challenging.
A. insignis insignis
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A. insignis allogenes
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