Besides photographing beetles for this trip, I am also wanting to test a modification to my new DIY flash diffuser as mentioned in my previous post Night Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (13 Feb 2015). The modification was mainly on the replacement of the large foam second diffuser with a foldable cloth diffuser to make the setup less bulky looking.
Besides the beetles found during the trip, I also came across this interesting looking spider which proofed to be a good test of the new diffuser.
The first beetle encountered was a pair of Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) found under a large elephant ear leaf.
Surprisingly the next beetle was found under the hot sun in an open grass patch. This Leaf Beetle looked very much like the Lema rufotestacea Leaf Beetle but differs in its much darker coloration. Not sure if it is a different type of beetle.
As expected there were hardly any critters in sight, only the occasional few grasshoppers and butterflies. This Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba) didn't come easy as I have to look under a few dried up logs before finding several of them. This was the first time that I ever look under logs to find beetles.
Moving to the clearing, I am glad to still be able to find a Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) resting on a leaf.
Coming to a fallen log with some ball-like fungus mushroom growing it, I am happy to find a first-time-encountered 2 mm golden-brown beetle moving busily on one of the mushrooms.
Not much actions along the path, so this dead beetle larvae became my focus for a while. This larvae seemed to have been preyed upon, given the hole found on it. Victim of an assassin bug or wasp?
It was about half way of the trail before I found this skittish first-time-encountered Pintail Beetle.
Coming to the spot where the long antennae Fungus Weevil, I was delighted to find this bright red Net-winged Beetle flying around the place.
It was only after a while of walking before I found this 5 mm Darkling Beetle hiding in a shallow depression in a tree bark.
A stone's throw away was a Fungus Weevil resting in a shaded part of a tree.
A few centimeters from the Fungus Weevil was another Fungus Weevil.
After the Fungus Weevil it was another long walk before finding this tiny 2 mm Leaf Beetle.
Just as I was photographing the tiny Leaf Beetle, a flash of orange appeared at the of my eyes and I found this Leaf Beetle under a leaf.
Moving deeper into the path, I was surprised to find this small 8 mm Long Horned Beetle. It looked similar to the Thranius binaculatus Long Horned Beetle but is much smaller in size. This could possibly be a different type of Long Horned Beetle.
The highlight of the trip was the encounter of this first-time-encountered Long Horned Beetle (Xoanodera trigona). I have been looking out for this Long Horned Beetle and am so glad to find it on this trip.
It was about 200 meters from the exit when I found this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus mirus).
I am rather surprised that this is the only specimen of this type of beetle that I found as they used tp be very common at Venus Drive.
It was almost at the end of the trip that I found this Darkling Beetle at the base of a tree.
The last beetle was a lovely orange colored beetle. This is the second time I encounter this beetle, the first time was during the trip at Yio Chu Kang Night Walk At Yio Chu Kang Road (09 Jan 2015)
The trip was surprisingly fruitful even though it was a hot afternoon. Great to be able to find some first-time-encountered beetles.
Wow, there were many types of beetles you had found.
ReplyDeleteI need to train my eyes to look for beetles also.
Yes, do it more frequently and you will find a lot more beetles. I only managed to find 8-9 beetles when I first started in Dec 2013. Guessed that it grew as I spend more time on it. :)
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