Morning Walk At Windsor Nature Park (15 Feb 2020)

I woke up early today and so decided to go to the Windsor Nature Park for my weekly macro photography session. Here's a photograph of an interesting looking fungus mushroom which looked very much like sea anemones.

Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula) ~ 15 mm

Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) ~ 10 mm

Fungus Beetle ~ 8 mm

Long Horned Beetle (Thranius bimaculatus) ~ 18 mm

Fungus Beetle (Eumophus westiwoodi) ~ 10 mm

Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus mirus) ~ 10 mm

Long-toed Water Beetle ~ 3 mm

Jewel Beetle (Habroloma lepidopterum) ~ 2 mm

Fungus Beetle ~ 4 mm

Shiny Fungus Beetle ~ 3 mm

Shiny Fungus Beetle ~ 3 mm

Shiny Fungus Beetle ~ 3 mm

Darkling Beetle ~ 2 mm

Beetle larva ~ 8 mm

Fungus Beetle ~ 10 mm

Leaf Beetle (Arcastes biplagiata) ~ 8 mm

Leaf Beetle ~ 4 mm

Straight Snout Weevil ~ 3 mm

Pintail Beetle (Glipa malaccana) ~ 10 mm

Leaf Beetle (Galerosastra sumatrana) ~ 8 mm

Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus pardalis) ~ 8 mm

Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) ~ 3 mm

Yellow Orchid Beetle larvae ~ 10 mm

Afternoon Walk At Venus Drive (22 Oct 2016)

It has been a long while that I did my macro-photography session in the afternoon and so I decided to go to Venus Drive, knowing that the chances of finding beetles in the afternoon will be much higher than other locations.

Here's an interesting photograph of a patch of small fungus growing on the underside of a dead tree.The fungus reminded me of ice cream popsicle.

The first beetle for the trip was a Pintail Beetle. I was fortunate as it remained motionless despite the constant flashing from my speedlite.

Near to the Pintail Beetle was a small patch of huge Elephant Ear plant where several of this Ant-like Flower Beetles were found on the underside of a leaf.

The sky was overcast with thunder rumbling continuously and it seemed like it will rain any time. Just at this moment, I saw a white dot flew under a leaf and immediately I know what it was - one of my favorite beetle, a white Ladybird Beetle. The distinctive feature for this beetle is its lovely greenish-blue eyes.

Under a leaf of a plant near by, I spotted a similar White Ladybird Beetle but noticed that it has black eyes instead of the greenish-blue eyes. Not sure if it is a mutation as it seemed to be less sensitive to my camera flashes.

 As expected, it was only a while of walking before I found this large group of Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana).

Next to the Tumbling Flower Beetle was a small 5 mm Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis) on a leaf.

More walking before I spotted this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

On a tree nearby was this resting Darkling Beetle in a crevice of a small tree.

Coming to a fallen tree, I was glad to find several of this Fungus Beetle on it.

On the same tree trunk were several of this lovely Net-winged Beetle.

More walking without finding any beetles until I noticed this 7 mm Weevil Beetle flew in front of me and landed on a leaf.

The rumbling of thunders above continues and I decided to pick up my paces before it rain.  When I was almost at the exit, I found several of this small 2 mm Darkling Beetles on a large tree.

On the same tree was a tiny 4 mm Fungus Weevil.

On a small tree nearby, I was glad to see several of this beetle larvae.

Just a stone's throw away from the beetle larvae was this tiny 4 mm fist-time-encountered Fungus Weevil (Apolecta transversa).

I was surprised to see that the antennae of the beetle was almost 7 times its body length.

The last beetle for the trip was a big surprise - it was a 4 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil resting on the side of a tree. It was very skittish and flew off after one photograph.

This was an interesting trip and I am glad that the decision to do an afternoon walk was a right one, despite the mosquitoes and heat. Finding two first-time-encountered beetles was a real bonus for the trip.

Morning Walk At Venus Drive (26 Mar 2016)

It has been almost 3 months that I did any morning walk at Venus Drive, so I decided to do so and at the same time test out my latest DIY flash diffuser. With me on this trip was my bestie Cameron and his children. It is always great to have Cameron even though he is not a fan of insects or creepy crawlies, but like what Cameron said - it is the company.

Here's a photograph of  a Mantidfly that we encountered during the trip. This is the second time that I came across this interesting insect.

The first beetle for the trip was a Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) found under a large Elephant Ear Plant.

A stone's throw away was a small 3 mm Weevil Beetle. This beetle looks very much like an elephant and often reminded me of Sesame Street Big Bird's imaginary friend of named Snuffleupagus.

Further down the trail was a lovely Ladybird Beetle (Epilachna admirabilis). I am glad that the new DIY flash diffuser works well with this beetle.

It was only a short while that I reached the third "snow tree" and found this small 5 mm Fungus Weevil on it.

Not sure what to make of it but the place has been taken over by Air Potato Plants. The plants have made many of the areas less accessible as compared to a few years back when I started photographing beetles at Venus Drive. Nevertheless, flying among the Air Potato Plants were several of this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana).

Coming to a patch of tall bushes, there were several of this white Ladybird Beetle hiding under the leaves. Unlike other Ladybird Beetles, this species of Ladybird Beetle is highly sensitive and would promptly fly off upon detection of movements, making it a challenge to photograph them.

Near to the white Ladybird Beetle was a small patch of Singapore Rhododendron plant where several of this roundish Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) were found. The Singapore Rhododendron seemed to be the favorite food plant for this beetle.

Just when I was wondering why I didn't see the usual diurnal Leaf Beetles like the Lema diversa and Lema rufotestacea Leaf Beetle, this Leaf Beetle (Hoplosaenidea singaporensis) turned up.

Near to the Hoplosaenidea singaporensis Leaf Beetle was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) resting on a rubber tree leaf.

On a fallen log near by was another Fungus Beetle resting on a Bracket Fungus Mushroom.

While I was photographing the Fungus Beetle, Cameron called out to me that they found something that I would be interested. Indeed I am thrilled to see this mating pair of Long Horned Beetle (Thranius bimaculatus) as it answered a question that I had a while ago - is the smaller size beetle a different species (because of the orange-brown legs) compared to the bigger specimens. This confirmed my suspicion that the smaller specimen is the male of the species.

Hiding under a dried-up vine on a tree nearby was a pair of Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus mirus).

The highlight of the trip was the encounter with this lovely Leaf Beetle (Trichochrysea hirta) found under a leaf. I have been wanting to get a good photograph of this beetle for a while and this came as a pleasant surprise.

Not too far from the Trichochrysea hirta Leaf Beetle was a Tiger Beetle (Neocollyris celebensis) . Sadly, it was rather active and I was not able to get a good photograph of  it.

Moving ahead, I found this small 10 mm Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) on the side of a small tree.

It has been a while that I encountered this Leaf Beetle (Galerosastra sumatrana) and I promptly chased after it when I saw it flying into the bushes.

On the side of dying tree was this Checkered Beetle. It has been a long while I last encountered any Checkered Beetle and this was a treat for the trip.

On the same tree was this small 4 mm Ground Beetle.

Another highlight for the trip, a beautiful Jewel Beetle (Belionota prasina) foraging on a dying tree.

The last beetle for the trip was this small 3 mm Shiny Fungus Beetle hiding among a multi-layer Bracket Fungus Mushroom.

This is an enjoyable and fruitful trip with more than 20 different beetles encountered, with some escaping the camera because of their hyper-activeness. The trip was made even more enjoyable by the quips from Cameron. Thank you bro for the wonderful time!