Trithemis festiva (Indigo Dropwing)

Seen in Hong KongTrithemis festiva is a very widespread species, occurring as far west as Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, throughout Asia and southwards as far as northern New Guinea.

This delightful character features in Dijkstra/Lewington’s European Bible thanks to it being found on the southern coast of Turkey and also in parts of Greece. Having not visited the appropriate parts of Europe, I was thrilled to find a couple of examples in Hong Kong Park when we were en route to the Antipodes in 2017. I was also very fortunate in finding a female, given that some commentators suggest that the females are rarely seen. The male, though, is quite a stunner.

male
female