Mystery Solved! (11 Jun 2021)

 This is the follow-up of my previous blog post - Surprised Find From Changi Beach (17 Feb 2021) where I found two "unknown" larvae from the Changi Beach.

Of the two larvae found, only one managed to survive the trip from the beach. The larva that survived was later put into a large plastic container filled with organic compost and shredded dried leaves. 

In May, about 3 months after the larva was brought back and having not seen any movements in the soil, I decided to check on the container. To my pleasant surprise, the larva had made a pupa chamber. Not sure when the pupa chamber was made, I decided not to disturbed it further and put it back into the container. In my opinion, the best husbandry for growing out beetle larvae is to minimize any disturbances to the larvae besides cleaning out the larvae poop.  

On 11 June, I heard some scratching sounds in the container in the night and decided to open up the container  in the next day morning. Not knowing what to expect, I gently dig through the top part of the container and found bits and pieces of the pupa chamber. This confirmed that the beetle pupa has eclosed and has emerged from its dormant state. 

Excited, I gently pour out all the soil and "dig" around using my hands. Finally, the answer to my speculation of what type of beetle the larvae belongs to, will be answered in a short moment.

My initial gut feel that the larvae could be that of the Orcytes rhinoceros beetle was correct. A beautiful adult female O. rhinoceros was found.

Although the anticipation of whether the larva would survive and emerge as an adult was pretty unbearable, it has been an interesting journey of rescuing two unknown beetle larvae, growing out of the larva, pupation and emerging as adult beetle.  If there are other opportunities to rescue more beetle larvae in the future, I will gladly go through the journey again. 😀

Surprised Find From Changi Beach (17 Feb 2021)

It has been a while that I last posted anything in this blog. It was due to multiple reasons for the lack of activities, but primarily due the reason that I got lazy due to Covid-19 measures, and also the rekindling of one of my "old" hobbies - inter-tidal walks which competed with the macro-photography sessions. May be I should consider starting a blog on inter-tidal walks in Singapore.

It was on one of these recent inter-tidal walks that reminded me of something that I "discovered" years ago at the Changi Beach, which I am sharing now in this blog - beetle larvae can be found on Changi Beach. Yes, you read it correctly, I "discovered" that you can regularly find beetle larvae at Changi Beach during low tides. 

Here's where beetle larvae can be found at Changi Beach. You can literally find beetle larvae lying on their sides on the sand, very much like a sea-shell or the commonly encountered Pink Warty Sea Cucumber at Changi Beach. Interestingly these beetle larvae are very buoyant and are able to float in sea water. 

During one of my recent trips to Changi Beach, I managed to find two beetle larvae at the beach. Out of curiosity as to what kind of beetle these larvae are from, I decided to bring them home to see if I can  raise them into adult beetles. Sadly, one didn't make the trip and was dead upon arrival at my home. 

When I "discovered" them years ago, I have a strong suspicion that these beetle larvae are from neighboring islands such as Pulau Ubin, Tekong Island or even Malaysia.  Looking at the larvae, they are likely to be the larvae of Coconut Beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) or Rhinoceros Beetle (Xylotrupes gideon).

Here's the photographs of the beetle larva that remained.

Upon closer examination of the beetle larva at home, it looks very much like a Oryctes rhinoceros larva. Hopefully I can keep the larva to maturity and see if my observation is correct. I will update if I am successful in raising the larva to adult beetle.

Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (20 Dec 2019)

The weather in Singapore has been rainy for the past few weeks and today the weather seemed good, so HW and I decided to go for our night macro photography session at the Windsor Nature Park.

During the trip, I came across some brightly colored critters which I think were the larvae of Thrips. If you know what they are, appreciate that you can leave me a note.

The first beetle of the trip is the commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) feeding on a leaf.

Near to the Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle was another commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

There were many fallen logs along the trail and on one of the fallen logs were a small aggregation of this Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula).

On the same log was a lovely Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi).

Walking along the trail, I was surprised to find this lone commonly encountered Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a low bush.

Near to the Tiger Beetle was a Long Horned Beetle which was hiding under a Air Potato leaf. Owing to the awkward angle, I was not able to get a good shot of the beetle.

On a small tree near by was a 3 mm Fungus Weevil (Habrissus omadioides).

On the same tree was a 1 mm Darkling Beetle.

Walking further down the trail, this Chafer Beetle was found on a leaf node of a low bush.

On a small tree by the side of the trail was a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).

On the same tree was this pupa of a Fungus Beetle.

Coming to a dying tree, several of this Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes) were on the tree.

On the same tree was this long-time didn't encounter Long Horned Beetle (Thranius bimaculatus).

Centimeters from the Thranius bimachulatus Long Horned Beetle was a female Fungus Weevil (Anthribus wallacei).

On a small tree next to the dying tree was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

On another tree nearby was this 5 mm Weevil Beetle.

On the same tree was a 1 mm Fungus Beetle.

Moving on, a Ground Beetle was found resting on a Clidemia hirta leaf.

Nearby was another black color Ground Beetle.

At the base of the tree where the Ground Beetle was found was this 10 mm Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus mirus).

At the part where there were two rows of sawed tree trunks, this 10 mm Darkling Beetle was on one of the tree trunks.

Near to the sawed tree trunks was a small tree where this pretty Ground Beetle (Neocoptodera tetrapitolota) was found.

On another fallen tree further down the trail was this beetle larva, likely belonging to the Drakling Beetle family.

On the same log were several of this Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba).

Next to the Ceropria superba Darkling Beetle was a 1 mm brown color beetle, likely to be a Sap Beetle.

On another fallen log nearby was this 10 mm Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta).

On a tree next to the fallen log was this colorful beetle larva, likely that of a Fungus Beetle.

Just slightly before we turn back and call it a day, this Sap Beetle was found chewing on the fungus mushroom growing on the log.

Below the Sap Beetle were several of this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis).

The highlight for the night was the enounter of this Ground Beetle (Physodera eschcholtzii). I rarely encounter this Ground Beetle and was pleasantly surprised to find several of them around the same area.

The last beetle for the trip was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle. This particular specimen was quite different from the other beetles that I encountered previously in that this specimen does not have a purplish sheen on it.

This trip was very fruitful even though we did not find any first-time-encounter beetles. Hopefully we will be able to go for more night macro sessions in the next few weeks as we are still in the midst of the wet phase of the Northeast Monsoon season.

Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (22 Nov 2019)

It has been rainy this week, so HW and I decided to go to Windsor Nature Park to see if we can take some photographs of luminous fungus mushrooms. When we reached the place, the sky overhead looked gloomy and threatened to rain. Nevertheless we decided to continue to see what we can get despite the wet vegetation at the place.

Here's an interesting Ram Horn snail crawling on a fallen log.

The first beetle for the trip was a Chafer Beetle chewing a leaf.

On a small tree nearby was a  1 mm Fungus Beetle.

Near to the Fungus Beetle was a pair of 2 mm Darkling Beetle.

Further down the track was a rotten tree (commonly Dead Fall) found by HW. On it were several different beetles. Here's a photograph of a 4 mm Ground Beetle (Coptodera marginate).

On the same tree was another Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa).

At the base of the rotten tree was a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).

Down at the base of the tree was a lovely 10 mm Darkling Beetle.

On the another side of the tree was a female Fungus Weevil (Antribus wallacei).

Next to the rotten tree was this Long Horn beetle (Coptops annulipes).

Next to the rotten tree was a low bush where this Darkling Beetle was found.

On a small tree near by was this small beetle larva. It is always great to find beetle larvae  as it is a sign that the beetles are reproducing.

On a small cut log that lined the track was a 10 mm Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus).

On the log were several of this beetle larvae.

At the end of the log was this commonly encountered Darkling Beetle.

Just when I was photographing these interesting 1-2 mm beetles and spring-tails, the sky started to drizzle.

Although our trip was shortened prematurely by the rain, the number of beetles encountered was still considered good.