Night Walk At Venus Drive (11 Apr 2014)

My original plan for the night was to go back to the location where I found the interesting looking fungus with the well camouflaged beetles and take some good closeup photographs of the beetles. When I reached Venus Drive, the place looked like it just had a pretty heavy rain as the place was very wet. In order not to waste the trip in not finding or finding only a few beetles like last week, I decided to stick to my usual route for the night.

The first beetle for the trip was a Darkling Beetle (Strongylium erythrocephalum).  It was a good start for this trip as it has been a while that I last encountered this beetle. I was thrilled to be able to finding this beetle especially after a heavy rain.

The next beetle was about a 5 minutes walk from the Darkling Beetle and it turned out to be a first-time-encountered 5 mm Leaf Beetle.

Moving to a fallen log near to the clearing, I found this small 4 mm Fungus Beetle.

I was a little concerned as between the fallen log and the clearing, not a single beetle was found. My heart sank when I reached the clearing as all the fallen logs at the clearing were covered by creeper plants, I was pretty amazed by the speed at which the creepers grew as most of the creepers were dead during the dry weather. I didn't expect the creepers to be able to recover so quickly.

On a log at the clearing, I found several several of this type of beetle (Martinezostes sp.).

On the same log was a commonly encountered Darkling Beetle.

A large group of this Fungus beetle was found on another fallen log. It is wonderful to see such a large number of them as it is a sure sign that things are back to normal.

On the same log was another Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus). The number of encounter with this type of beetle seemed to be increasing. How wonderful!

On a tree nearby was this lone 2 mm Fungus Beetle. It was easy to spot it given the bright orangy-red color over a dark background.

Clinging to  a stalk of leaf was this commonly encountered Chafer beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

On a log deeper into the clearing were a dozen of this Fungus Weevil. Interesting to find so many of them on one log.

On the same log was this female Fungus Weevil (Anthribus wallacei). This particular beetle was so hyperactive that I need to continuously track it through the view-finder in order to take some proper photographs.

I found that the clearing area to be the place to find this lovely type of Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi).

While photographing the Ground Beetle, I accidentally photographed this first-time-encountered Rove beetle.

Hiding in a depression of lichen, a 2 mm  first-time-encountered Flea Leaf Beetle was found.

On the side of a fallen log was this large 20 mm Darkling beetle (Promethis valga).

Still at clearing, my eyes were attracted to a brownish colored oject on a leaf, and it turned out to be a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

Since the time that I found the white color Ladybird Beetle at Venus Drive, I would without fail try to look out for it each time I am there. For this trip I was rewarded with this relative calm specimen that allowed me to photograph it without flying away.

On another fallen log was this small 3 mm shiny beetle.

On the other end of the same log was this shiny jet black Ground Beetle.

Searching around the clearing, I was so thrilled to find this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamenis). This type of beetle seemed to have disappeared during the dry spell.

A surprise find was this Long Horned Beetle (Aeolesthes holosericeus) resting on an air potato leaf.

Leaving the clearing, I found a Ground Beetle (Coptodera marginata) on the side of a tree.

By the side of the path was this Ground Beetle (Onypterygia longispinis). This type of beetle is usually easily spooked, but this particular specimen remained absolutely still for me to photograph. This is probably due to the earlier rain, and the impending thunderstorm.

At the base of a tree was this 8 mm black beetle.

On a plant near by was this small 5 mm Fungus Beetle (Amblyopus vittatus). It was hyperactive and moved about quickly on the leaf.

I was intending to walk to the "snow tree" to see what beetles I can find. Just before I reached the location, I found another tree that is even more "productive" than the "snow tree". On the tree there were a number of different beetles.

The first one that cause my eyes was a 4 mm first-time-encounter Checkered Beetle.

Next to a Ground Beetle (Coptodera marginata) was a tiny (~ 1 mm) first-time-encountered Click Beetle.

In a nearby crevice higher up the tree was another first-time-encountered beetle. From the photograph I am not able to tell if it is a Click Beetle or Fungus Beetle.

Crawling at the base of the tree was a Long Horned Beetle (Thranius bimachulatus).

Pacing up and down the tree was this Flat Bark Beetle (Catogenus rufus).  So glad to find this beetle as it has been a long time I last encounter across it.

High up on the tree was another Ground Beetle (Pericalus figuratus).

Resting motionlessly nearby the Ground Beetle was a Fungus Weevil (Anthribus wallacei). It is a male Anthribus wallacei as can be seen from its extra long antennae.

Near to the Fungus Weevil was a small 5 mm Fungus Weevil.

The highlight of the trip was finding this beautiful Long Horned Beetle (Anacylus griseatus) on the same tree.

At the base of the tree was a first-time-encountered Weevil Beetle.

Near to the Weevil Beetle was a small black beetle.

On another part of the tree was another yet-to-be identified beetle.

On the tree was a lovely colored Fungus Weevil (Stiboderes impressus).

The next beetle was a well camouflaged Weevil Beetle.

The tree was full of different beetles but the place was also full of mosquitoes. I was bitten all over and decided to call it a day. The last beetle that I found on the tree was this Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa).

Despite the earlier rain, the trip was exceptionally fruitful due to the "discovery" of "snow tree 2". Guessed that there will be more trips to this place in time to come.

Night Walk At Venus Drive (04 Apr 2014)

The weather has been wet for the past few days with showers all over Singapore and it rained heavily in the early afternoon. I used to dread rainy weather as they often disrupt my macro photography sessions, but after having gone through the exceptionally dry February and March, I have learned to be appreciative of the rain that we often took for granted in Singapore. In fact, we are very blessed in Singapore as we are getting regular rain now as our neighbor country up North (West Malaysia) is still suffering from a lack of rain in some places.

I decided to go to Venus Drive for a walk to see if the place has recovered from the damages caused by the dry weather. To add some excitements to this trip, I decided to take a different route for the night. I usually do not take this route in the day as the human traffic on it was very high and my experience of finding beetles on this route was not very positive. Nevertheless, I took the route and encountered this interesting looking fungus that looked very much like soft corals under the sea. This is the first time that I encountered such curious looking fungus at this place. Interesting!

The first beetle that I encountered was a first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil that was so hyperactive that I was only able to take one photograph of it and it disappeared up the tree.

I was not too familiar with this route in the night and so I took a little bit more time to look around the place. Coming to a tree which has its tree branches almost touching the ground due to their weight, I was surprised to find this Leaf Beetle resting on one of the leaves. In fact, I found two of this Leaf Beetle at this location. Notice the bluish tint on the legs of this beetle?

The next beetle was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

The next beetle was just a stone's throw from the Chafer Beetle and it is a Ground Beetle. It is a bluish-black Ground Beetle which, if I recalled correctly this was only the second time I encountered this particular type of Ground Beetle. It is about 8 mm in size.

The next beetle was found on a pile of chopped down tree trunks which I thought I would find some Fungus Beetles, but sadly only a few of this 10 mm size Darkling Beetles were found on the trunks.

On a nearby tree trunk was this small beetle, probably a Fungus Beetle.

Moving further down the trail, a Fungus Weevil was found resting on the end of a chopped tree trunk.

The route was rather "barren" and I was not able to find any beetles for almost 15 min of walking, just as I have expected. I finally came to a tree with this tiny 1 mm Fungus Beetle on its trunk. They looked like tiny black specks to the naked eyes, until you zoom in and see the colorful patterns on the beetle. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy taking the time to look for such tiny "black" beetles as I like the surprise of seeing what color or patterns are on these tiny beetles.

The next beetle was a Darkling Beetle but with a brown coloration, very much different from the usual black color of Darkling Beetle.

Next to the Darkling Beetle was this first-time-encountered beetle. It is about 6 mm in size.

It was another 15 min or so of walking before I found this skittish Click Beetle (Xanthopenthes schawalleri) that promptly flew away after one photograph of it. It was a pleasant encounter as it's been a while I last encountered this type of Click Beetle.

Moving on to another tree, I found a pair of mating Fungus Beetles. I truly enjoy searching out for this type of tiny "black" beetles as you don't know what color or pattern they have until you zoomed into them.

Coming to a fallen log, I found this curious fungus growing on it. I took several photograph of this interesting looking fungus as it was the first time that I come across such fungus. More interestingly, I found what looked like beetles feeding among the "tentacles" when I was preparing the photographs for this blog. Can you spot where are the beetles? I can see 3 of them in this photograph, how many do you see? With this "discovery", I would surely go back there to get some closer shots of them.

The route was not very productive as compared to the usual Venus Drive route that I take and after taking some photographs of this Weevil Beetle, I decided to turn back and call it a day.

On the way back, I came across a fallen log and on its side was this beetle with its rear-end sticking out from a hole. I was not able to get it out of the hole but from the size and shape of the exposed body, I would conclude that it is a Bess Beetle (Aceraius grandis). This particular type of Bess Beetle seemed to be pretty common in this area.

Almost reaching the exit, I found another commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

At the exit, I found another Chafer Beetle (Apogonia aequabilis).

Just when I am about to pack up my camera, I found this 2 mm Fungus Beetle on a tree nearby.

The trip was expected to be not as fruitful but the end results was not too bad with 2 first-time-encountered beetles and a potentially "new" beetle to the list (i.e. the beetles that I found on the soft coral like fungus).