Close Encounter With A Lovely Beetle (19 May 2015)

When I was walking towards my home at about 11 pm, I was surprised to find this lovely 18-20 mm Long Horned Beetle clinging to the side of a road curb next to the car park. Not wanting to miss the opportunity of photographing this first-time-encountered Long Horned Beetle, I decided to bring it home for a macro photography session. Here are the photographs of the beetle taken at different angles. Enjoy!

Night Walk At Pasir Ris Park (15 May 2015)

It rained heavily in the afternoon but my friend and I kept to our original plan of going to Tampines Quarry for our night macro photography session. The trip started off promising as within seconds I found this Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

Sadly, after walking a good twenty minutes we were not able to find any beetles. So we decided to go to the Pasir Ris Park which is about 10 min drive away. When we reached the place, it was still wet from the afternoon heavy rain and there was a large column of termites moving along the pavement in the park.

The first beetle we encountered at Pasir Ris Park was this Click Beetle (Pectocera babai). It was a great start as we were found two of this beetle just meters apart.

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

Further down the path, there was a small colony of Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

On a tree near to the Tiger Beetle was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

For this trip we decided to take a walk along the mangrove boardwalk and I was glad to be able to find this large Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis) on a mangrove plant.

Not much action along the mangrove boardwalk and we decided to go back to our usual route. Just then my friend found this bronze color Ground Beetle on a rotting tree trunk next to the boardwalk.

Just after exiting from the mangrove boardwalk, we came across a tree with several of this tiny 1 mm beetle on it.

On another tree nearby was this 3 mm Fungus Beetle.

While walking along some low bushes, I was surprised to find this lone Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) resting on a blade of grass.

Less than a meter from the Lema diversa Leaf Beetle were several other Leaf Beetle (Lema rufotestacea).

Further down the trail, I was elated to find this lovely Weevil Beetle (Cylas formicarius). This is the second time that I encountered this beetle around this location.

The last beetle of the trip was a small 4 mm Leaf Beetle. To our disappointment, a large section of our regular spot was boarded up for construction. Guessed that we will have to look for new location for our macro photography soon.

The trip was not exceptionally fruitful but it is definitely better than the Tampines Quarry that we started off with.

Night Walk At Pasir Ris Farmway (08 May 2015)

It rained in the afternoon and it looked set to rain in the night. I have been looking forward for the whole week to test out my new DIY flash diffuser, so I took the risk and went to Pasir Ris Farmway as the sky over that part of Singapore looked slightly clear.

When I reached the place, the sky was rumbling a bit and there were occasional flashes of lightning. I quickly setup my camera and jumped right into actions. This is the first time I am doing macro photography at this place and am not sure what I would find.

Here's a photograph of a commonly encountered Lynx Spider which I thought was eating a leaf hopper when I took the photograph. It was only later when I was preparing the photographs for this blog that I noticed that it was eating another spider.

The first beetle for the trip was a pair of Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) and there were many of them at the place.

I was rather disappointed as the only type of beetle I encountered after walking for about 15 minutes are all the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle. I was elated to find this Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) on the underside of a leaf, probably getting ready for the impending rain.

It was only after walking for another while that I found a fallen tree with several of this 5 mm Darkling Beetles on it.

More walking before I found this Tortoiseshell Beetle (Cassida circumdata) on a leaf of a morning glory plant.

Next to the Tortoiseshell Beetle was a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

The last beetle of the trip was a first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. This beetle looked very much like the Aulacophora indica Leaf Beetle but differs in its rounder and broader elytra. The antennae of the beetle is also uniform in color, unlike that of Aulacophora indica Leaf Beetle which has some shades of black on its antenna.

The trip ended less than two hours as the number of beetles found were outnumbered by the number of mosquitoes at the place.Not too sure if the small number of beetles found was due to the impending rain, but for sure this is less fruitful as compared to Pasir Ris Park.

Morning Walk At Venus Drive (01 May 2015)

It rained heavily the night before and so I decided to go to Venus Drive in the morning for a walk as the chances of finding beetles there is much higher, especially given the rainy weather. A surprise find at Venus Drive - a Red-Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans). This is the first time I come across a Red-Eared Slider in Venus Drive, even though this is commonly seen at our parks and reservoirs.

Just as I was about to reach Venus Drive when it occurred to me that it may not be a good idea to go there on a public holiday (Labour Day) as it will be very crowded. Sure enough the place was full of people. With the wet weather and crowd, I was mentally prepared for a not so fruitful trip.

Interestingly, besides the wet weather and crowd, I also have to "wrestle" with a troop of Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) that happened to be competing with me for beetles. This is the first time that I see them catching beetles. They were fast and agile, and the beetles (and other insects) were on the losing end.

Here's one of the younger macaque exploring a tree trunk for insects.

The heavy rain over the week has taken its toll on the trees at the place. Many tree were uprooted and were on their sides. Several of the trees were large trees, with some of them being my favorite trees to find beetle. Here are the photographs of some of them.

The first beetle was an Ant-like Leaf Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea), found under an elephant ear plant. Sadly, the number of elephant ear plant at Venus Drive seemed to be dwindling for some reason.

As expected, it was only after a while of walking before I come across of this black and white beetle larvae.

Coming to a wood pile, a lone Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) was seen on the side of a log.

While walking ahead of the troop of Long-tailed Macaque, a large beetle flew past me and landed on a log. It turned out to be a Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes). While photographing the Long Horned Beetle, the troop of Long-tailed Macaque managed to catch up with me, and just then the beetle also flew off promptly into the tree canopy.

Coming to a fallen log with some fungus growing on it, I was glad to find several of this type of Sap Beetles.

Near to the above beetle were several other similar beetles and some interesting looking beetle larvae. This is the first time I come across this type of beetle larvae, and by their proximity with the Sap Beetle, I presumed that they are the larvae of the Sap Beetle.

Near to the Sap Beetle was another interesting looking beetle.

On a tree was a yellow and black beetle larvae.

Up the same tree with the beetle larvae was a Fungus Weevil.

More walking before finding this mating pair of  beetles. Not sure if they are Darkling Beetles or Fungus Beetles.

Under the shade of a wood pile was a lone Darkling Beetle.

Next to the Darkling Beetle, I was surprise to find a not so commonly encountered Darkling Beetle (Phymatosum rufonotatum).

At this point, I decided to explore the forested area by the side of the path. On one of the fallen logs overgrown with bracket fungus, were several of this Fungus Beetles.

Deep into the "bushes", I managed to find a colony of this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

After photographing the Argopus brevis Leaf Beetle, I was happy to find a metallic blue color Leaf Beetle just above the Leaf Beetle.

After walking for a while without finding any beetle, this "long-time-no-see" 3 mm beetle was a welcomed sight. It has been a while that I last encounter them on my walks.

Coming to another wood pile, a Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba) was found on a patch of white fungus.

More walking until this small 2 mm Fungus Beetle caught my attention.

On a rotting log near to the Fungus Beetle was a large 20 mm Pleasing Fungus Beetle. This particular specimen was very active and didn't stop for a  moment for me to photograph it.

Moving further down the path, a Fungus Weevil was found on the side of a tree.

Near to the Fungus Weevil was a fierce looking beetle larvae. I think it should be the larvae of a Ground Beetle.

More walks before finding this pair of beetles.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter with this small 3 mm first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. I was thrilled to find it especially given the not so ideal weather condition.

Another highlight of the trip, a first-time-encountered 13 mm Click Beetle, found on the vine of a creeper.

I came to the part where a very large tree used to stand and was shocked to find that it had fallen and sawed into many large portions. On one of the sections of the tree was this lovely hairy Leaf Beetle (Trichochrysea hirta).

At almost the end of the path, I was happy to find one of my favorite beetles - a white Ladybird Beetle, on the underside of a large elephant ear plant.

The last beetle of the trip was a Ladybird Beetle (Chilocorus circumdatus) found on another leaf next to the while Ladybird Beetle.

The trip was unexpectedly fruitful even though the weather and crowd may have worked against me in finding beetles. I am happy to be able to find two first-time-encountered beetles, but sadden by sights of those large fallen trees.