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.

Morning Walk At Venus Drive (30 May 2015)

The morning weather was nice and I decided to go to Venus Drive for a walk. To avoid the weekend crowd, I went to the place slightly earlier then usual, but even so the place was full of joggers and trekkers.

Undeterred by the crowd,  a Clouded Monitor Lizard (Varanus nebulous) was seen foraging for food along side the foot path.

The first beetle was a Leaf Beetle (Lema rufotestacea) found on leaf at the grass mound where I usually find Leaf Beetles.

At the same mound was a tiny 3 mm first-time-encountered beetle resting on a blade of grass. It looked very much like a Fungus Beetle.

On a low bush nearby was a Leaf Beetle. It looked very much like a Lema diversa Leaf Beetle, except for the entirely black coloration of its elytra. Not sure if this is a different type of Leaf Beetle.

Just a few meters away was a Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa). Notice the color of its elytra is different compared to the above Leaf Beetle.

Coming to an Elephant Ear Plant, I am happy to be able to find several of this Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea).

At the base of a small tree near to the Elephant Eat plant was a familiar Darking Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes).

The place has changed a fair bit due to the various fallen trees that I mentioned in my previous blog of the place. Here is a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) found on one of the tree branches, munching on a patch of black fungus.

On the same tree branch was another Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula) which seemed pretty restlless.

Walking deeper into the trail, I was surprised to find this Checkered Beetle (Stigmatiun granulosum) resting on the side of a tree motionlessly.

As I was walking along the trail, my eyes caught sight of a black speck that landed on a leaf. It turned out to be a Pintail Beetle.

Coming to a place with a very large fallen tree, I decided to check it out before moving further. On the log were several Sap Beetles on top of some fungus mushrooms.

Just centimeters from the Sap Beetle was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis).

Under a leaf near to the fallen log was a Fungus Weevil.

Moving on to another wood pile, was this only specimen of this type of  Darkling Beetle that I encountered during this trip.

The weather was warming up and so I picked up my pace a little, just then I saw a tiny black speck under a leaf. As I trained my camera on it and zoomed in, it turned out to be a small Weevil Beetle.

Directly below the Weevil Beetle was a small Clidemia (Clidemia hirta) plant with this lone Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

Further down the path, hiding under some shade was this small Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis).

It was only after walking for a short while before I found several pairs of this mating 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

On a tree nearby was this orange color beetle larvae.

Coming to a rotting log, I was disappointed to find a dismembered Bess Beetle (Aceraius grandis) on it. Not sure how this poor fellow ended up this way.

There was a wood pile further down the trail and I was surprised to find this small 3 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil on a branch. This beetle was very alert and it flew off after only one photograph. When I was reviewing the photographs, I am amazed by the length of its antennae.

More fallen trees along the trail and on one of the tree trunks was this lovely metallic green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela chrysippe) running up and down the trunk.

Next to the Tiger Beetle on the ground was this round 3 mm beetle.

On one of the branches on the woodpile was this active and interesting looking beetle larvae.

On the side of the tree branch was a patch of white fungus mushroom and on it was a Fungus Beetle having its meal.

More walking before coming across this lovely Pintail Beetle (Mordella fasciata) which I have not come across for a while.

Near to the Pintail Beetle was an interesting looking beetle larvae. I wonder how the adult beetle looks like?

As I was walking on the trail, a brown speck flew onto the tree trunk right in front of me, and it turned out to be a Fungus Weevil.

Just meters from the Fungus Weevil was a first-time-encountered Long Horned Beetle. Sadly, this beetle was hyper sensitive and flew away before I can take a good look at its pattern and coloration.

Fumbling among some low bushes were several of this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana). It was a challenge to get a good shot of this beetle as they were hyperactive and didn't stop moving around the place.

It was about time to go back and so I picked up my paces. As I was passing a low bush, I was surprised to find this Leaf Beetle (Arcastes biplagiata). I am even more surprised that the beetle didn't fly away despite the flashing of the camera flash.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter of this Leaf Rolling Beetle. It was such a thrill finding and photographing this beetle.

It was near the exit that I found this first-time-encountered Jewel Beetle on a pile of nicely cut up tree trunks.

The last beetle was also a surprise - another Jewel Beetle (Belionata prasina) foraging on the huge fallen tree near to the exit.

The number of beetles encountered during this trip was considerably large, given the hot weather. I am glad to be able to find several first-time-encountered beetles despite the endurance testing weather.