Night Walk At Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West (18 Oct 2013)

I have been wanting to visit Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West in the night to see if there are any interesting beetle actions. I am a little apprehensive whether I can even find any beetles since it is a neighbourhood garden, surrounded by high-rise buildings. Nevertheless I decided to go there for a walk. It was almost 8 pm when I reached the place but the place was nicely lit like many of our parks and gardens in Singapore. I was really not expecting much from this trip.

The first beetle that came into view was this Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis). This is a commonly encountered beetle in Singapore and when it is in season, you will literally find tens if not hundreds of them in the grass fields. 

Nearby to the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle was another Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus). There was a large number of this beetle at the place. From the many holes on the leaf, it is not difficult to deduce that this is the favorite food plant for this type of beetles.

Moving further, I found this interesting looking Chafer Beetle. I initially thought that it is the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle but upon closer look, it turned out to be completely brown instead of the completely black coloration of a Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle.

Moving to a low rattan plant, I found a small (~5 mm) black beetle on the main stem of the plant. Just as I snapped my first shot of the beetle, it immediately dropped into the leave litters below. Sadly, the first shot was not good but I still included here as a record for the trip.

A surprise find was this Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a fern leaf. I was not expecting to find this type of beetle here as they are usually found in sandy areas, whereas the foliage here are lush and green. Little did I know that this beetle would surprise me even further later on.

Pressing on, I came across another Chafer Beetle. This Chafer Beetle has a black thorax with brown elytra. It looked like a cross between the black Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle with the brown colored Chafer Beetle. Interesting!

After checking many trees without finding any beetles, this small 5mm shiny beetle was a welcomed sight.

Coming to patch of low bushes, I was further surprised to find the place was full of the Cicindela aurulenta Tiger Beetle. This is the first time I get to see so many Tiger Beetles congregated in this manner. What was shown here was just a small part of the low bush, the other parts of the low bushes at this place were also full of the same type of Tiger Beetles.

Moving further into the path, a tiny (~2 mm) Fungus Beetle was found resting on a tree trunk.

The next tree were full of this lovely Darkling Beetle.

Moving into a 'wilder' part of the garden, I found this lovely first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil.

Just then the sky above turned reddish-orange, threatening to rain any moment. Rumbling thunders can be heard from a distance. Not wanting to waste the trip by leaving earlier, I continued down the path and found this first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil. It remained very still for me to get some close-up photograph of itself.

The thunders were getting louder and it sounded like it was about to rain. I picked up my pace and chanced upon an open patch of vegetation where this lovely first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle (Lilioceris quadripustulata) was found. Interestingly it looked very much like a Fungus Beetle. This was the highlight of the trip.

Just when I am done with photographing the Lilioceris quadripustulata Leaf Beetle, the sky started to pour cats and dogs. I was completely drenched by the time I reached the exit.

Although the rain has unexpectedly shorten my trip, the trip was still fruitful as I was able to find three first-time-encountered beetles on this trip, especially so that I didn't expect to find interesting beetles in this neighborhood garden. I will surely come back to this place in the future.