For this trip, we decided to take a trail that is still accessible on foot. To our disappointment the vegetation look very wet, indicating that it rained heavily earlier before we were there. This also means that the chances of finding beetles is very slim. Nevertheless, we continued with our plan since we were already there.
Here's a photograph of a juvenile Wagler's Pit Viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri) that we encountered at the place. It was very well camouflaged among a patch of tall ferns.
I was at the place slightly early and while waiting for Reynard to arrive, I decided to do some photographing around the waiting area. The first beetle that I found was a small 8 mm Leaf Beetle.
Besides the Leaf Beetle, I didn't find other critters around the waiting area and hence I decided to take a short walk further away. Just while I was walking around, an insect "dive bombed" me on my neck and gave me a rude fright. At that moment I thought a wasp had stunk me. Fortunately, it turned out to be a Chafer Beetle (Aprosterna pallide).
After meeting up with Reynard, we headed to the "entrance" of the trail that we were taking for the night. At the "entrance" was a rotten tree trunk and on it were many interesting bright yellow stringy fungus growing on it. This is the first time that I encounter this type of fungus.
As I looked closer at the stringy fungus, I noticed that there were many small red Springtail and near to them were some really tiny beetle-like insects. Not sure if the black insects were beetles.
We started on the trail and the first beetle encountered there was a small Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta) on a fallen tree.
Near to the Ceropria induta Darkling beetle was a smaller Darkling Beetle (Amarygmus ovoideus).
While I was photographing the Amarygmus ovoideus Darkling Beetle, Reynard called out to me and showed me this lovely Fungus Beetle.
Nothing much interesting along the trail until I found this Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) resting on a fern plant.
More walking without finding any beetle, until we were at the mid point of the trail where I found this small beetle, likely to be a Darkling Beetle (Tenebrionidae family).
Near to the small beetle was a small Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) on a tree trunk. This particular specimen was almost half the size of the usual Strongylium tenuipes Darkling Beetle that I came across previously.
At the mid-point of the trail while I was looking out for some of the resident beetles at the location, Reynard showed me a tiny 2 mm Leaf Beetle that landed on him.
Although there were a fair bit of changes to the vegetation at the place, I am glad to still find the Lema quadripunctata Leaf Beetle that I know can be found there.
Next to the Lema quadripunctata Leaf Beetle was a favorite of mine, the Hemipyxis semiviridis Leaf Beetle.
Just a stone's throw away were several wooden pole where these beetle larvae were found. I think they belong to the same type of beetle, just that they are at different stage of development.
On the same wooden pole were a congregation of this tiny 2 mm beetle (Darkling Beetle?) These probably are the adults of the larvae mentioned above.
More walking without encountering any beetle, until this interestingly patterned first-time-encountered Sap Beetle turned up on a low bush. This was the highlight of the trip.
More walking before finding this lovely colored Net-winged Beetle.
Still more walking before encountering this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus).
We reached the end of the trail and were out of the forested area of the trail when I found this small Fungus Beetle on a large fungus mushroom.
The last beetle encountered was a Chafer Beetle feeding on a blade of grass, encountered while walking to the main road.
The trip can considered to be fruitful given the fact that it rained earlier on. The place looked promising and I think it will yield more beetles when the weather is better.
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