Morning Walk At Venus Drive (27 Jun 2015)

The walk was slightly different as I am having my best friend Cameron and his daughter Samantha with me. Samantha is doing a project on spiders in her university studies and so I gladly asked her to join me on the trip. On the other hand, my friend Cameron is not really a critters-loving type but he came prepared with camera and a GPS device - this is how far fathers would go for their children. :)

I have chosen Venus Drive for the walk as it will have a higher chance of finding spiders. Here's one of the few spiders that we encountered during the trip.

While waiting for Cameron and Samantha to arrive, I managed to catch a few shots of beetles. Here's the first beetle for the trip, a Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa).

Coming to an Elephant Ear plant, I am glad to find an Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea).

While waiting, I decided to go to a part of Venus Drive that I had not explored before. Upon reaching the spot, I was pleasantly surprised to find a first-time-encountered Leaf Rolling Weevil. This specimen was entirely black with no color patterns on it. Sadly it was very alert and flew off before I can get a good shot of it.

Near to the weevil beetle was another fabulous find - a Narrow Necked Leaf Beetle (Lilioceris quadripustulata). It has been a while I last encountered this beetle.

The first beetle after meeting up with Cameron and Samantha was a Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana).

At the same spot with the Tumbling Flower Beetle was a Fungus Beetle (Ohtaius lunulatus).

Next to the Ohtaius lunulatus Fungus Beetle was another Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula) hiding in a crevice in a tree branch.

Further on the same tree branch was another Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus).

I was a bit distracted as I was trying to look for spiders while looking for beetles at the same time. Nevertheless, I am glad to find this metallic blue Leaf Beetle.

Near to the Leaf Beetle was another Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) resting on its food plant (Clidemia hirta).

As we move further down the trail, my eyes caught sight of this Leaf Rolling Beetle. Just as I was trying to get a better shot of the beetle, it flew off into the bushes.

On a tree near by was a first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil.

There was a woodpile along the side of the trail and on it was a Fungus Weevil.

Further down the path was a bronze color Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis).

On a low bush near by was a Net-winged Beetle. It was a wonderful find as it has been a while since I last encountered a Net-winged Beetle.

We are almost at the T-junction that leads to the exit and the Tree-top Walk trail when I found a small bush with several of this Pintail Beetles.

Coming near to a rubber tree, this lovely white Ladybird was found under a leaf.

Near to the Ladybird Beetle was a small 2 mm Leaf Beetle.

At the base of a tree was this small 2 mm bright orange Fungus Beetle.

As we came to the T-junction, we decided to go slightly further towards the Tree Top Walk path. On one of the low tree branches by the side of the path was this 3 mm hairy beetle.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter of this first-time-encountered Click Beetle. I would have missed it if not for the keen eyes of Samantha who spotted it on the underside of a leaf.

On the way towards the exit, an active beetle larvae was seen crawling up and down the length of a palm leaf. Noticed that even as a larvae, it already has some mites on it.

Near to the beetle larvae was a first-time-encountered Pintail Beetle.

It was about a stone's throw from the exit that this first-time-encountered Weevil was found moving up and down the side of a small tree. This beetle has exceptionally long forelegs and looked pretty strange.

At the exit I was delighted to find this lovely Long-horned Beetle (Chloridolum thomsoni).

The last beetle for the trip was a Ladybird Beetle (Chilocorus circumdatus) found under a large Elephant Ear leaf.

The trip was surprisingly fruitful with several first-time-encountered beetles found. I was not as focused as usual but thanks to Samantha's sharp eyes, the number of beetles found was still considerably good.

Night Walk At Dairy Farm Nature Reserve (19 Jun 2015)

I found out a "new" route of going to Dairy Farm Nature Park using public bus and so decided to give it a try. It took about an hour of travelling before reaching the place. This is acceptable given the fact that I would only be able to go there unless I drive.

The trail at the Dairy Farm Nature Park is much shorter than before due to the closure of a large part of the trail for maintenance and repair works. An interesting encounter at the Dairy Farm Nature Park was this Wagler's Pit Viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri) resting next to the trail. This is one of the more commonly encountered poisonous snakes in Singapore. This particular snake looked pretty fat and healthy.

The first beetle that I encountered was a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis) on a dead tree branch.

The next beetle was a first-time-encountered beetle. Not too sure which family it belongs to but it looked very much like a Pleasing Fungus Beetle, without the usual colorful patterns.

One side of the main path leading to the Wallace Trail was barricaded for the maintenance of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. For those who are not aware, the Dairy Farm Nature Park is side by side with the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve which was closed for maintenance. There were not many critters found and this small Darkling Beetle (Stronglium tenuipes) at the base of a small tree was a welcomed sight.

The first beetle that greeted me in the Wallace Trail was this Chafer Beetle. It looked like the commonly encountered Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle but its size seemed bigger. This beetle was rather sensitive and it flew off after only a few photographs.

Moving to a fallen log, a Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta) was seen on some white fungus growing on the log.

Near to the Darkling Beetle was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus tetraspilotus) resting on a leaf.

After walking for about 10 minutes without finding any beetle, I am glad to find this small 3 mm beetle "swimming" in the fluid that was flowing out from the side of a palm tree. Not sure what beetle it is, but it looked like a Sap Beetle.

Moving down the nature trail, several of this beetle larvae was found on a small tree.

Near to the beetle larvae was a patch of low bushes and on them were several of this lovely Leaf Beetles.

By the side of the trail was a small tree with this 3mm Darkling Beetle on it.

Walking along, I was surprised to find this 10 mm Darkling Beetle on a small plant. It is interesting to find this on a small plant as this type of beetle were found on rotting wood.

A few centimeters from the Darkling  Beetle was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis).

Just a stone's throw away was this Pleasing Fungus Beetle (Micrencaustes lunulata). It's been a while I last encountered this beetle.

Next to the Pleasing Fungus Beetle was another 3 mm Darkling Beetle leaving a mushroom after having eaten a hole in the mushroom's cap.

On a tree further down the trail was a Darkling Beetle (Amarygmus splendidulus).

Near by on the leave litters on the ground was a Darkling Beetle.

Coming to a fallen tree branch, I was happy to find this 4 mm Ground Beetle (Dolichoctis stralata formosana).

Just when I was photographing the Ground Beetle, another beetle caught my eyes. It was a first-time-encountered Darkling Beetle. It was a challenge to get a good shot as it kept moving around without stopping.

Nearing the end of the Wallace Trail, I found this Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa) on it.

Before exiting from the trail, I managed to find this small 5 mm Darkling Beetle. I always love photographing this beetle as it look pretty "strange" as compared to the other beetles.

The last beetle for the trip was a surprise - a Firefly Beetle (Lychnuris fumigata) hiding under a leaf of a heliconia plant.

The trip was not as fruitful as expected but it is nevertheless interesting and worth the time travelling there.

My Long Horned Beetle Collection (05 Jun 2015)

I will be on overseas holiday for two weeks and hence will not be able to do any macro photography of Singapore beetles. Instead of leaving a gap in my weekly blog, I decided to do a review of all the different Long Horned Beetles that I have encountered since I started in December 2012. So here they are (photographs ordered by the latest date):