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Friday 13 March 2015

Night Walk At Venus Drive (13 Mar 2015)

Is has been a while my friend has visited Venus Drive, so we decided to go there for our night macro photography. My friend's objective for this trip was to take some ultraviolet photographs of scorpions. We managed to find a number of Wood Scorpion (Lychas scutilus) and one of them was a small 25 mm juvenile.


The first beetle encountered was a Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) found under a large elephant ear leaf.


The place was rather dry despite the few days of raining across the whole island of Singapore. The start of the trip was very slow and we only found the Ant-like Flower Beetle  until minutes into the trail where this Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) was found on a low bush.


The next beetle was a surprise find - a first-time-encountered Long Horned Beetle found resting on a creeper.


Near to the Long Horned Beetle was a woodpile where 2 Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta) were found.


Very soon we came to the clearing and on one of the fallen log were several of this 12 mm Darkling Beetles.


On another fallen log in the clearing were several of this Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba)

A close-up of the Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba).


Near to the Darkling Beetle was a tree with a number of lichen growing on its trunk. On a patch of lichen was a Fungus Weevil.


Directly on the other side of the tree trunk was another Fungus Weevil.


Near to the Fungus Weevils was a tall plant and on it was a female Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle.


Near by to the Chafer Beetle was a Weevil Beetle on the trunk of a small palm tree.


Moving away from the clearing, we came to a spot where there were unusually large number of Ground Beetle (Onyptergia longispinis). Usually I would at most encounter 1 or 2 of this type of Ground Beetle on a trip, but this time round we managed to find 6-7 of them along a short stretch of vegetation.


Near to the Ground Beetle was a Darkling Beetle, clinging motionlessly on a small tree.


In a crevice on the same tree was this small Darkling Beetle (Amarygmus ovoideus).


On a nearby woodpile was several Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis) which blended very well into its background.


Further down the trail was a small patch of Hairy Clidemia (Clidemia hirta) where this Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) was munching on one of the leaves.


While photographing the Chafer Beetle, my friend call out to me that he found a beetle larvae on a tree. I was so glad to find this large beetle larvae as the sighting of them has been few during this dry period.


On another woodpile nearby were several of this lovely metallic colored Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi). I am glad that my newly modified DIY flash diffuser worked well to bring out the lovely metallic color of this beetle.


On top of a large leaf nearby was a beetle which I am not sure if it belongs to the Long Horned Beetle or Darkling Beetle family.


Just a stone's throw away was a lovely Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus).


Near to the Long Horned Beetle was a lone male Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).


Time passes quickly and we decided to pick up our paces to head for the snow tree 3. Although I have visited the snow tree 3 several times, I am still very impressed with the number of beetles that were found on the tree. There were several of the large Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi) on the tree while we approached the tree, but what caught my eyes was this small Ground Beetle (possibly Pericalus figuratus).


It was like a party for this type of Fungus Weevil (Anthribus wallacei) as quite a number of them were found on the tree, some alone and others were mating.


On the tree were many circular holes created by the Ambrosia Beetle and I was surprised to find a Flat Bark Beetle coming out of one of the holes. This particular specimen was very hyperactive and didn't stop long for me to have a good shot of it.


At the higher part of the tree was a 10 mm Darkling Beetle. I have came across many Darkling Beetle that looked like this but differs in their sizes. Some can be as small as 2 mm to as big as 20 mm.


At the base of the snow tree was this entirely black Darkling Beetle.


While it was my friend's turn to photograph at the snow tree, I decided to explore the inner part of the forest that was behind the snow tree.

On a large tree fallen tree branch next to the snow tree (possibly broken off from the snow tree) was several of this Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula).


Just directly below the Fungus Beetle was a reddish-brown Ground Beetle that has two yellow spots at the tip of its abdomen.


Deeper into the vegetation behind the snow tree, I was happy to find one of my favorite beetles ~ a white Ladybird Beetle. I particular like its bluish-green eyes.


The highlight of the trip was finding this lovely colored Click Beetle. This is only the second time that I came across this type of Click Beetle.


It was time to turn back and just before we turned back, a bronze colored Chafer was found on the underside of a leaf.


Passing by the snow tree on the way out, I was glad to find this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) moving actively on the snow tree. It managed to elude me when I was photographing the beetles on the snow tree earlier on.


The last beetle for the trip was a Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes) found at the base of the snow tree. Like the Fungus Beetle, it managed to elude me when I was photographing at the snow tree earlier on.


This trip was especially fruitful given the dry weather. We also had quite good fun with my friend's ultraviolet light in spotting scorpion in the dark. It is amazing how scorpions glow so brightly with the ultraviolet light. This has motivated me to want to dig up my old ultraviolet light from my storeroom for the next night shoot. :P

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