New Walk At Venus Drive (27 Nov 2015)

My friend wanted to take some photographs of luminous mushroom and hence we headed for Venus Drive as they are known to be found there. On the way to Venus Drive, we were dismay to see massive dark rain clouds in the distance where Venus Drive is. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, we decided to continue and take the chance that it may not rain when we were there. Fortunately, it didn't rain while we were there.

Here's a photograph of a House Centipede (Thereuopoda longicornis) found at the place. Interestingly, we managed to find two of them on this trip.

The first beetle encountered was a small 2 mm beetle found on a tree next to the Venus Drive car park.

Nearby on another tree was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

Nearer the entrance of the Venus Drive trail, I found an active beetle larvae moving continuously on a tree.

Near to the entrance was a lone Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) munching on a leaf.

Coming to a big Elephant Ear plant, I am glad to still be able to find the Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) under one of its big leaves.

Just a stone's throw from the trail entrance, a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis) was found on a wood pile.

The highlight of the trip was a first-time-encountered Weevil Beetle found a rotting wood, on top of a white fungus.

Moving further down the trail, a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) was found resting on a low plant.

Resting on a leaf near to a wood pile was a Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta).

On the wood pile next to the Ceropria induta Darkling Beetle, were several of this 10 mm Darkling Beetles.

Further down the trail was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) on a dead branch.

On a tree near by was a small 2 mm beetle on a tree.

On another tree was a small 5 mm Fungus Beetle.

On a small rotten tree log was a small cryptic looking beetle (Hyberis araneiformis).

On a tree near to the Hyberis araneiformis beetle was a small 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

It is interesting that there were a number of this Ground Beetle around the place during this trip.

Another Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi) found on a wood pile nearby.

We came to a fallen tree and found many of this 5 mm Darkling Beetles on it.

On the same tree log with the Darkling Beetles was this lone Sap Beetle, hiding in a small depression in the tree bark.

On the other end of the fallen log were several of this small 5 mm beetle.

Moving on, there was a tree with several of this small 2 mm beetles.

While I was photographing the small beetle, my friend called out to me to check this odd looking beetle that he found. It is a first-time-encountered beetle that I initially thought that it is a Long-Horned Beetle given the long antennae. Upon closer look, it turned out that it is not a Long-Horned Beetle. It looked very much like a Darkling Beetle, but will have to check to see what beetle it is.

On another tree was this lovely patterned 8 mm Fungus Weevil.

Moving on to a small dying tree with quite a number of small fungus mushroom growing on it, I found a small 4 mm Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa).

On the same tree was a lone Rove Beetle. This is one of the toughest beetle to photograph due to its hyperactive nature and speed of movement.

On a tree nearby was a beetle larvae. It is good to be able to see beetle larvae as it is a good sign that the beetles are doing well at the place.

Near the base of a tree at the same spot was a small 5 mm Click Beetle.

Just a few steps from the Click Beetle was another tree with this lovely Darkling Beetle.

I was surprised to find this beetle larvae. Interestingly I don't encounter such later stage beetle larvae often.

I was looking out for this particular Leaf Beetle (Hemipyxis semiviridis) for a while and finally I managed to find it on this trip. This is one of the Leaf Beetles that I know that is active in the night.

There were many of this big 20 mm Ground Beetle (Onyptergia longispinis) found on this trip. From a short distance, it looked very much like forest cockroaches which are in abundance at the place.

We are almost at the end of our trip that we encountered this Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) at the base of a tree.

Another interesting find was this large 25 mm Weevil Beetle that was feasting on some young fungus mushrooms on a tree.

On the same tree with the Weevil Beetle was a first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil. This beetle was very hyperactive and I only managed to take a few shots of it before it moved up the tree.

The last beetle for the trip was a Fungus Beetle resting on some white fungus on a rotting tree stump.

The trip was very fruitful with the encounter with more than 30 different types of beetle, with 3 first-time-encountered beetles. I am also thankful that it didn't rain and the place was just nice - not too dry and not too wet. Overall this was a wonderful trip.