The weather was exceptionally warm and dry. I am hoping that this dryness is only temporary and not the start of another episode of dry season like in Jan/Feb this year. The first beetle encountered was a common Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus). As it is entirely brown, I believed that this is a female specimen of Adoretus compressus.
Near to the Chafer Beetle was the usual mottle colored Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).
A stone's throw away was another commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogoina expeditionis) feasting on a flower.
Moving further down the trail, there was a large sawed tree trunk and on it was this commonly encountered Darkling Beetle. The number of sawed and fallen trees was more than the last time I visit the place. This ought to be a good news as such fallen logs would attract different types of beetle to them. But sadly, majority of the tree trunks were dry like bone and hence only a few beetle were found on them.
On the same log was a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).
Further down the trail was another fallen tree and on it were several of the Episcapha quadrimacula Fungus Beetle.
On the same log were several of this 8 mm Darkling Beetles.
And running nervously on the other end of the log was this colorful Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi).
The number of beetles encountered was lower than expected. In fact, even the number of other insects was small compared to other days. This is no sign and true enough, it took a while before I come across this Fungus Beetle at the base of a small tree.
It was another 5 minutes or so before I found another fallen tree with this beetle on it. I have always think that this is a Fungus Beetle but looking carefully at it, it may be a Darkling Beetle after all. Need to do a tarsus-count to see which beetle family this belongs to.
Given the small number of beetles encountered, I search even more intensely for beetles and my effort was "rewarded" with this small 3 mm Fungus Beetle (Beccariola coccinella) hiding in a shallow crevice of a tree.
After a while of not finding any beetle, this small 4 mm Rove Beetle under a bracket fungus was a welcomed sight. I was not able to get closer to the beetle due to some tree vines that was obstructing my camera.
At this point in time, I am almost about to give up and turn back due to the small number of beetles encountered. Just then, I found a Darkling Beetle on a bracket fungus.
While photographing the Darkling Beetle, I noticed a slight movement and was pleasantly surprised to find this small 4 mm Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa) that I have not encountered for a while.
Further down the trail was a pile of chopped up tree branches and on one of the bigger tree branch on this Darkling Beetle (Promethis valga).
Near to the Promethis valga Darkling Beetle was this first-time-encountered Darkling Beetle.
At the point where I decided to turn back was a large tree stump and on it was this 5 mm Ground Beetle (Pericalus figuratus). It was resting nicely on the stump to give me some good photographing time.
At the base of the large tree stump was a pleasant surprise - a pair of Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) in close proximity to each other.The first photograph should be the male and the second the female, given the length of their antennae.
The last beetle was a small 5 mm Darkling Beetle and it was accompanied by a pill bug.
The trip was not as fruitful as expected but it still yielded some interesting finds. The good news is that while I am writing this last sentence here, the sky started to pour and it looked like it is going to be a long one. Wonderful!
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