Night Walk At MacRitchie Reservoir (06 Dec 2013)

As usual it rained cats and dogs in the afternoon and I thought that I would not be able to go for my night photography session. Fortunately the sky cleared in the late afternoon and so I decided to go to the MacRitchie Reservoir for a walk.

When I reached the place, I was rather disappointed as the place was very wet. My expectation of finding beetles was immediately lowered as it seemed like the rain just ended not long at the place. The first beetle that greeted me was this brown Chafer Beetle. I initially thought it is a Maladera castanea Chafer Beetle but upon closer look at the photograph at home, it seemed to be a different type of Chafer Beetle.

Near by to the brown Chafer Beetle was a brownish color Chafer Beetle. It was at a rather odd part of a tree branch and hence I was not able to get a very good shot of it.

On a near by Hairy Clidemia (Clidemia hirta) were dozens of this commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

Moving on towards a patch of Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum), several of this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) were happily feasting on the leaves. The Singapore Rhododendron seemed to be the food plant for this type of beetle.


Moving further down the trail, I was pleasantly surprised to find this Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a low bush.

Just as I was wondering whether I would encountered the commonly encountered Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle, this lone beetle appeared on a Singapore Rhododendron leaf.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter with this Flower Chafer Beetle (Taeniodera monacha). This is only the third time I encountered this beetle, and it is the first time I found it in the night. The encounter was so timely as it was only a few days ago that I managed to find its name while combing through some old online archives.

After walking for more than 10-15 minutes without finding any beetles, this Darkling Beetle was a welcomed sight despite the fact that it is a very common beetle found in the night.

Moving on for another while before I caught sight of this lovely 5 mm Leaf Beetle. Notice the water droplets on the beetle? This showed how wet the place was.

Walking on for another short while without finding any beetle, the encounter with this tiny 1 mm first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle felt like a bonus.

Coming to a dead log, I was surprised to find this Fungus Beetle on it. Why I am surprised is because of my past experience of not finding any Fungus Beetle on the dead logs at MacRitchie Reservoir, unlike Venus Drive where the dead logs are the place to be if you want to find beetles in the night.

May be the place wanted to proof me wrong, while photographing the above Fungus Beetle, I caught sight of a Handsome Fungus Beetle (Micrencaustes lunulata) just about 30 cm away.

Interestingly, another Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus tetraspilotus) was less than 10 cm away from the Handsome Fungus Beetle. Guessed that I am wrong about the dead logs in this place.

At the far end of the same log were some bracket fungus and on it was a dozen or so of this small 3 mm Rove Beetle (Sepedophilus bisignatus). To be able to photograph this beetle takes a lot of patience as they are highly sensitive to light and are very fast moving. I only managed to take a few shots of them before all of them disappeared into the underside of the fungus. This is one of the toughest beetles that I ever photographed. In fact, I would not even bother to photograph them if it was not because of the relatively low beetle encounters during this trip.

Moving on for another 10 minutes without seeing another beetles, I was so glad to find this small 4 mm beetle on a dead log. One would easily miss this beetle as it is well camouflaged against the dark coloration of a dead log, especially if the log is wet.

After walking for a while without encountering any more beetles, I decided to turn back and go home. On my way back, I found this 3 mm Leaf Beetle munching on a new leaf.

Just when I was about to reach the exit of the trail, the place gave me a surprise ~ a first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. I initially thought that it is the Aulacophora indica Leaf Beetle which can be found in large number at Lor Halus (http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/2013/10/morning-walk-at-lorong-halus-26-oct-2013.html), but as I focus closer I noticed that this beetle is different as it has a dark coloration on the tibia of its legs.

The trip was more fruitful than expected with the spotting of 17 different beetles, with some pleasant surprise added. Guessed that this is still a good trip given that we are now in the midst of the monsoon season and according to the weatherman, this is the one of the wettest December ever in Singapore.

Hopefully the weather holds up and I can have more beetle photography trips to share.

Morning Walk At Upper Seletar Reservoir And Venus Drive

The morning weather looked sunny and I decided to go to the Upper Seletar Reservoir to take some beetle photographs. I was a little disappointed when I reached the place as the vegetation looked very wet. It seemed to have rained in the early morning and it seemed to me that the chances of finding beetles may be very slim.

The first beetle that greeted me was this roundish Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) having its breakfast on its favorite host plant.

Walking further down the track, I found this small 3 mm beetle that can usually be found after rain.

After walking for about 10 minutes without seeing any beetles, this tiny Leaf Beetle (<2 mm) was a welcome sight.

After walking along the path where I would usually find beetles but without finding any beetles, I decided to turn back and go to Venus Drive so as not to waste such sunny morning during the monsoon season. Just as I turned back, a Spiny Leaf Beetle was spotted on  a blade of grass. Pardon the poor photograph as this particular beetle was so sensitive that it flew off immediately after one photograph - not even a chance to adjust my focus. Included here as a record of what I encountered during the trip.

Walking further a Ladybird Beetle (Henosepilachna cucurbitae) was found having its breakfast on a leaf. Notice the chew-marks on the leaf.

Just a stone's throw away from my car was this hyper-sensitive Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor) which promptly flew off after only 3 shots.

The Venus Drive was as wet as Upper Seletar Reservoir and to my dismay I found signs of wild boars activities. The wild boars would probably have gotten to the beetles that I usually find on this particular log. The wild boars had already created quite a problem at Macritchie Reservoir and Lower Pierce Reservoir, guessed that they have reached this part of Singapore also.

The first beetle that greeted me at Venus Drive was this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus tetraspilotus). Notice  how wet was the bracket fungus.

Moving along, I came across another of the hairy little beetle.

Moving to a fallen log, I found this black and pink Net-winged Beetle.

On the same log, I found a few of this brightly colored Net-winged beetle. This is the first time that I encountered a group of them together in close proximity.

Still on the same log was this well camouflaged Fungus Beetle.

Moving to the clearing once again, I found this first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle. It looked very much like the other Fungus Beetle that I came across before, but upon closer look it differed in the position and size/shape of the spots.

On another log was another group of this beetle.

A short distance away was this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus) which have a slightly different spot size and positions.

Moving onto the track again , I found this lone Leaf Beetle (Colasposoma auripenne) resting on a relatively dry leaf.

On a tree trunk was this lovely beetle  larvae.

Moving on, I was glad to see this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

Hiding under a leaf of a ginger plant was this Leaf Beetle (Gonophora xanthomela). The tell-tale signs of the presence of this type of beetle are the lines they left behind on the leaves. Notice the line behind the beetle?

The highlight of the trip was finding this first-time-encountered Long Horned Beetle (Sclethrus amoenus). It looked very much like the Neocollyris celebensis Tiger Beetle. I have attached a photograph of the Tiger Beetle (Neocollyris celebensis) taken previously for reference.

The trip was not a fruitful one due to the rain but encountering the first-time-encountered Sclethrus amoenus Long Horned Beetle made the trip worth the while.

Afternoon Walk At Venus Drive (23 Nov 2013)

It has been a while since I did any beetle photography in the afternoon as the chances of finding beetles in the afternoon are very much lower due our hot weather. As the sky has been overcast in the morning and seemed that it will be for the entire day, I decided to go down to Venus Drive for a walk.

Venus Drive was chosen as I thought the chances of finding beetles would be higher. At the same time, it would avoid the durian pickers crowd. As expected the place was very quiet and I am the only one on the track for almost two hours or so.

I made a bee-line to the usual spots where I would find Leaf Beetles in the morning, hoping to find some Leaf Beetles but to my disappointment there was not a single Leaf Beetle in sight. So I decided to head straight into the trail, hoping to find some beetles. I walked for a short while without finding any beetles until I came to a piece of dead log. A Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis) came out to greet me. Sadly, this was the only beetle I found on the log.

Near to the dead log, I found this small (~6 mm) Net-winged Beetle resting on a rattan leaf. Not sure if this is a Net-winged Beetle or some sort of Fungus Beetle as I recently read that there are Fungus Beetles that looked very much like Net-winged Beetle.

Moving to another fallen log, a familiar Fungus Beetle was found munching on a white fungus growth.

Flying nearby was a Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) that occasionally stopped for a brief moment just to tease me into trying to photograph it. It was quite a challenge to photograph this hyper-active beetle using my 18-55 mm lens. Nevertheless I still managed to catch a few shots of it, albeit not too good ones.

I quickly reached the clearings where I used to find a number of beetles in the night. There were not too many beetles there but I managed to spot this big (~20 mm) first-time-encountered Darkling Beetle resting under some shades.

On a nearby dead log was a few of this Fungus Beetles (Eumorphus quadriguttatus).

From the few beetles encountered so far, I decided to go to the Fungus Paradise that I found previously to see if I can find some Fungus Beetles. Sure enough I found on a dead tree stump a group of about 10 of this Fungus Beetle.

Moving further, I found a lone Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus politus) on a dead leaf on top of a fallen tree log. It looked like it is feeding on something that was on the leaf.

Moving along the path and trying very hard to spot more beetles, this small (~5 mm) Fungus Weevil landed on a leaf right in front me. How wonderful!

Moving to another dead log, I found another lone Fungus Beetle hiding under some shade on the log. This type of beetle is in abundant in the night.

A small beetle larvae was spotted on the same log.

At this point in time, the sky started to rumble - it seemed that it was going to rain soon. So I picked up my paces but eyes still scanning the vegetation carefully for beetles. I finally found an interesting looking first-time-encountered beetle on a small plant.

As I was walking faster than usual, a whitish beetle flew across my path. Not wanting to miss photographing any beetles, I followed this 6 mm Leaf Beetle a short distance until it decided to take shelter under a leaf.

While I was photographing the Leaf Beetle I found a fallen tree further in the bushes, so I decided to take a detour and see if there are any beetles. I was pretty disappointed in not finding any Fungus Beetle on the log until I saw this lovely reddish-orange Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus pardalis) resting on a leaf. This is one of my favorite beetles.

Moving quickly ahead, I found a small (~5 mm) Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) having a great time munching on a leaf. Its high tea time for the beetle.

Just as I am about to leave the place, I was pleasantly surprised to find a Long Horned Beetle (Thranius bimachulatus) resting motionlessly on a rubber tree leaf. This is the second time that I encountered this beetle. Nice!

Near to the Long Horned Beetle was this tiny 1 mm first-time-encountered beetle. It looked like a Leaf Beetle.

The last beetle that I encountered was this 2 mm Fungus Beetle moving about on a fungus laden leaf.

The trip was not exceptionally fruitful but it was not unexpected given that it was in the afternoon. In any case, besides the beetle I also found two durians along the way.