Giant Dragonfly predating on Common house lizard

HEMIDACTYLUS PLATYURUS (Flat-tailed House Gecko). PREDATION. Hemidactylus platyurus is a moderate-sized (43–58 mm snout–vent length) gecko with a widespread distribution in Southeast Asia and in the Philippines (Brown and Alcala 1978. Philippine Lizards of the family Gekkonidae. Silliman University Press. Dumaguete, Philippines. 146 pp.). This note reports the observed predation of H. platyurus by a dragonfly, Anax cf. panybeus (Odonata: Aeshnidae). At 1330 hours on 8 September 2013, JA observed a female Anax cf. panybeus (60 mm right hindwing length), clutching a still struggling Hemidactylus platyurus, land on a branch of a tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica) in Pueblo de Panay, Barangay Dinginan, Roxas City, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines . The dragonfly utilized its anterior legs to hold on to its prey while simultaneously chewing the left eye of the gecko for ca. four minutes. To our knowledge, this is the first recorded incident of a dragonfly predating on a lizard in the Philippines. Photographic vouchers were deposited at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore (ZRC[IMG] 2.183a-c).