Morning Walk At Upper Seletar Reservoir (01 May 2014)

It was the Labour Day holiday and I awoke early to see if I can get some beetle actions at the Upper Seletar Reservoir. The weather was not good as it rained very heavily just before I set off. Here's an interesting shot of a cherry like plant at the place.

The first beetle was a Leaf Beetle (Gonophora xanthomela) found on a ginger plant leaf.

The next beetle was a 2 mm Leaf Beetle. This beetle is pretty common but often missed because of its size, or passed off as a black speck on a leaf.

Near to the black Leaf Beetle was a tiny 2 mm Ladybird Beetle. It looked like Cryptogonus orbiculus Ladybird Beetle but differed in the color of its head. This has a black head instead of milky yellow of that of Cryptogonus orbiculus Ladybird Beetle.

The number of beetles encountered so far was disappointing even at the regular spots where beetles can be found.  I was hesitating to whether to turn back and go to another place, such as Venus Drive or Lower Pierce Reservoir. Just then I came across a badly eaten up plant with several of this Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor) on it.  With this encounter, I decided to stay on and move further into the trail.

Not to far from the Hoplasoma unicolor Leaf Beetle was this Leaf Beetle. It looked a bit odd as it seemed to have some spider web on its elytra. Guessed that it may have a narrow brush with death.

Just as I was moving along the path, a brown colored beetle flew pass and landed under some thick bushes. Upon closer look it was a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

Moving onto another trail, the beetle at the trail was a 8 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle.

This trail was not particularly fruitful in previous trips and I was not too hopeful that I will find any beetle. To my surprise, I found this lone Leaf Beetle (Eucyclomera nigricollis).

After walking for a while without encountering any beetle, I decided to turn back and just then a brown Leaf Beetle flew onto a dead leaf overhead. The beetle was in such an odd angle that I was not able to get a good shot of it.

After I exited the trail, I moved to another path that will lead back to the car park. I found this first-time-encountered tiny 2 mm black color Leaf Beetle that looked very much like the earlier black Leaf Beetle, except that is body is much more elongated than the previous.

As I was walking slowing along the path, a large yellow color beetle flew right in front of me. It turned out to be a Long Horned Beetle (Oberea clara).

Just then there was some movements on a fallen log and it turned out to be a lovely metallic bluish-green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela chrysippe).

Moving out of the shaded path, a Tumbling Flower Beetle or Pintail Beetle was seen resting on a leaf under some shade.

At just a stone's throw from the car park were these Leaf Beetle hiding in between two leaves.

The highlight of the trip was the encountering of this Tiger Beetle (Neocollyris celebensis).

The last beetle for the trip was just a few meters from my car. It is a Ladybird Beetle (Cryptogonus orbiculus).  As mentioned earlier on, this beetle has a milky-yellow color head.

I am surprised that the trip turned out to be fruitful with a few first-time-encountered beetles and also some not-so-often encountered beetles. Glad that I have stayed the course.

Morning Walk At Upper Seletar Reservoir (29 Sep 2013)

The weather was a little overcast but good enough for a trip down to Upper Seletar Reservoir. This is a familiar path that I usually take when I am at Upper Seletar Reservoir. This path is seldom visited by joggers and hence it remained pretty wild, which is wonderful for beetle watching.

The first beetle that greeted me was this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) which seemed to be the permanent residents of Upper Seletar Reservoir. This is probably because of the presence of several of its food plant.

The next beetle was this Tiger Beetle which initially was pretty hyper-sensitive to movements. After flying and stopping for a few times, it decided to stay put on this wild cinnamon leaf. I am glad that it remained pretty still for me to take some nice close-up photographs.

Moving further into the path, I was pleasantly surprised to find this first-time-encountered Leaf Mining Leaf Beetle (Gonophora xanthomela).

The tell tale signs of this beetle's presence is its straight feeding tracks on leaves. Here's a photograph of some old tracks on a leaf.

Resting on a shaded leaf was this lovely Leaf Beetle. Its color reminded me of jelly sweets.

Near to the Leaf Beetle were several 2 mm Leaf Beetles. Interesting to find different same size Leaf Beetles on the same plant. All these tiny beetles are first-time-encountered beetles.

Moving further down the path, this colorful Leaf Beetle was resting on a low bush.

Moving on, I came across this commonly encountered Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor). Although you can easily find them in Upper Seletar Reservoir, photographing them is another matter altogether as they are super alert to movement. I was fortunate to come across this particular beetle that was so engrossed with its breakfast that it allowed me to take a few photographs of itself.

Moving to an area where there is a sand pit where a number of this Tiger Beetles (Cicindela aurulenta) can be found. This is another permanent resident of Upper Seletar Reservoir, but I fear that they will disappear as the sand pit is being overtaken by grass and weeds.

At the entrance of another trail, I found this first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. It was hiding in a large patch of vegetation.

The trail was not very productive as it took me a good 15 min of walking before encountering this small 5 mm Leaf Beetle.

After walking for another 15 min without encountering any beetles, my eyes finally caught sight of this lovely patterned Chafer Beetle. This is another first-time-encountered beetle. Fabulous!

Coming to a rotten tree trunk, I finally found this colorful Fungus Beetle. This is the only Fungus Beetle that I encountered through out the trip despite the fact that there are many fallen and rotten logs along the trail.

Just when I am about to end my trip since I have been walking for another 30 minutes without encountering any other beetles, this brightly first-time-encountered beetle appeared. You can imagine how glad I am to have encounter this beetle. Not sure what beetle it is but it looked like it belongs to the Lizard Beetle family.

Moving on and after don't know how long before I encounter this tiny 2 mm beetle. It was so hyper-sensitive to movements that I could not get a nice photograph of it. Here's a blurry photograph of it as a photograph record on what beetles I have encountered. Notice the interesting looking antennae of this beetle.

After walking for another long while without encountering any beetles, I decided to turn back. And on the way back, I encountered this chocolate brown slightly hairy Leaf Beetle. This is the second time that I encounter this type of chocolate brown color Leaf Beetle.

Just before reaching the end of my trip, I found this Leaf Beetle with almost transparent elytra.

The trip has been fruitful with me finding 8 first-time-encounter beetles, but the trip was very long and at times frustrating especially when not encountering any beetles after walking for a long while. Guessed that I will continue to come to this place as long as there are still first-time-encounter beetles to be "discovered".

Morning Walk At Upper Seletar Reservoir (09 Aug 2013)

It has been a long time since I last visited the Upper Seletar Reservoir so taking advantage of the fine morning weather, I made a beeline to the place early in the morning. To find beetles in Upper Seletar Reservoir, you would need to move off the paved path and into the "wilder" paths.


The first beetle was found along the road near to the car park. It was a small (~5 mm) roundish Leaf Beetle, happily having its breakfast.

Near to the Leaf Beetle was a commonly encountered beetle (~3 mm).

The first beetle that I encountered after moving off the paved path was this small (~4 mm) Tumbling Flower Beetle.

During my last trip to this place I encountered dozens of this yellowish-orange  Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor), but this trip I only managed to find two of them. I wondered what happened to all of them.

Near to the Hoplasoma unicolor Leaf Beetle was a Spiny Leaf Beetle. Didn't managed to get many shots of this beetle as it was super sensitive to my camera flashes and flew off after just two to three shots.

On some low grass bushes was this interesting looking Leaf Beetle. This is only the second time that I came across this beetle since I started taking photographs of Singapore's beetles less than 8 months ago.

A pleasant surprise was the encountering of this first time encountered Leaf Beetle. In fact, I don't remember seeing any photograph of this beetle on the internet.

Moving to an area with several rattan plants, I was surprised to find this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus mirus) moving slowly on the rattan leaf.

Nearby to the Fungus Beetle was this tiny (~2 mm) Leaf Beetle.

Moving into a shaded area, a Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus) was seen with its usual pose on a big leave.

While trying to take a closer photograph of the Tiger Beetle, a flash of white at the corner of my eyes and this lovely Leaf Beetle landed right beside me.

Moving on, two tiny (~2 mm) Leaf Beetles were found on a hairy leaf. Noticed that the beetle is only slightly longer than the hairs on the leaf.

Moving deeper into the path, another Spiny Leaf Beetle (Discladispa armigera) appeared. This time round I managed to get some good shots of the beetle after chasing it for a few meters.

Along side the path were some mid height plants and on one of them was this Flea Beetle. It is called a Flea Beetle due to the extra strong hind legs that it uses to jump up like a flea.

On a nearby plant was another Flea Beetle with its frog leg like hind legs showing.

On the same plant with the Flea Beetle was this tiny (~2 mm) roundish Leaf Beetle.

Nearing the end of the path was a muddy area where several of this Tiger Beetle (Cicndela aurulenta) were foraging. I was not able to get a good shot of them as they were easily spooked and would not let me get near to them.

The trip was fruitful, especially with the first time encountered Leaf Beetles and Flea Beetles.