In view that the monsoon season has started in Singapore, I took the chance to still go for the walk since the rain has stopped. My curiosity has taken the better part of me as I was wondering what beetles I would find at the clearing that I encountered during my last trip to the place in the morning (http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/2013/10/morning-walk-at-venus-drive-12-oct-2013.html).
The place was exceptionally dark as there was no moonlight, and as expected all the vegetations were soaking wet. The first beetle that I found was a black Fungus Beetle on a piece of white bracket fungus.
Munching on a wet leaf was a surprise find of a Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis). Was not expecting to see it out in this wet weather.
Perching motionlessly on a leaf near by to the Chafer Beetle was this Leaf Beetle. This is one of my favorite Leaf Beetle because of its pleasant colors.
A stone's throw from the Leaf Beetle was another common Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).
Nearing the main entrance to the Venus Drive Trail, I was pleasantly surprise to find this Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes) resting motionlessly even when I was photographing it.
Near to the Long Horned Beetle was this Chafer Beetle, clinging to a blade of grass.
I reached the tree that I termed "Darkling Beetle Tree" as I usually would find multiple Darkling Beetles on it. Tonight there wasn't a single Darkling Beetle on it, instead was this small lonely 3mm Fungus Beetle.
Moving to some rotten logs, I found this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis) resting on a leaf above the log.
On a wet rotten log was a group of small 5mm Fungus Beetle.
Near to the group of Fungus Beetle was another Fungus Beetle.
Moving further down the trail, I found this Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta). It is interesting to find this on a leaf as you would usually find this type of beetle on rotten logs instead.
Clinging to the side of the rotten log was another Fungus Beetle.
On another log nearby was this shining Darkling Beetle.
Moving closer to the clearing, I found this small 3mm Fungus Beetle having its dinner on some wet fungus.
Hiding in some leaf litters was this first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle. It looked similar to two other Fungus Beetles that I came across previously and yet different in subtle ways.
A surprise find was this 3mm Fungus Beetle (Platydema unicornis). You can easily recognise this beetle by the horn like protrusion on its head.
The first thing that I found when I reached the clearing was a fallen tree log crawling with this type of beetle larvae. I counted more than twenty of them on a single side of the fallen log. This is the first time I came across such a large number of beetle larvae on a single log.
On another fallen log was a group of Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis). Notice the number of mites it had on its back. Poor beetle!
On the other end of the fallen tree log was this small 5mm beetle. I came across this beetle frequently but sadly I was still not able identify it.
On another fallen log was a group of this colorful beetle. Note the watermarks on its elytra.
The surprise find at the clearing was this Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi). I occasionally come across one or two of this type of beetle, but on this trip I was able to find about six of them singly on different fallen logs.
On another fallen log was this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus). One thing about Fungus Beetle is that you need to look pretty closely to their spot patterns to differentiate them.
Another group of Fungus Beetle found. This is so exciting as all the logs in the clearing have different Fungus Beetles on them.
I almost tripped over some wooden vine and accidentally disturbed two Long Horned Beetle (Aeolesthes holosericeus) which promptly flew off into the bushes. Fortunately I was able to track down one of them resting on a tree leaf.
I was almost done with exploring all the fallen trees in the clearing when I found this first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle resting on a young unopened leaf. The spot pattern on this beetle is rather unique.
On a tree further down the trail away from the clearing, was this 2mm Fungus Beetle. Look how small is the mite.
On the same tree with the Fungus Beetle was this Fungus Weevil.
On a rotten log was this large 15mm larvae. This is the first time I come across such a larvae. Not sure if is a beetle larvae.
On another tree was this 5mm roundish Darkling Beetle. It looked like a squashed version of the Ceropria induta Darkling Beetle.
On the same tree were these tiny 2 mm Fungus Beetle.
Further down the trail, I found this lovely colored 1mm beetle.
The last beetle that I encountered was a Rove Beetle. Rove Beetle is one of the hardest type of beetles to photograph as they are hyper sensitive and active. They would run around the place at high speed and scatter when they encounter light. I was fortunate to be able to photograph this particular one while it was taking a short break from its running.
This trip was surprisingly successful as I managed to find and photograph thirty different beetles despite the wet weather. I am so glad that I made the decision to come to this place despite the earlier rain. As the monsoon picks with more frequent and heavier rain, I hoped that I can still keep this blog updated with more interesting beetle finds.
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