Saturday, October 31, 2009

Unknown Beetle Larva

As mentioned in the previous post, there was a small creature on one of the giant flowers. The question is, what is it? Well, I still have not come up with an answer. However, I had spotted a few of these insects in India.
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There are now two possibilities. One is that it is a globally-endangered trilobite beetle, which is mostly found only in dense forests. The second is that it is just a firefly larva. However, I have not been able to confirm what it is beacuse of one reason to each possibilities. The reason that it may not be a Trilobite Beetle is because it is extremely rare, and I had found over 5 of these in just a month. Reason to why it may not be a firefly larva is because these were all active in the day.
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Anyway, for now I'm just calling it 'Unknown Beetle'. I may need more help from experts to identify this insect. Anyway, here's one more shot of the beetle. This was the first and the smallest one I saw. It was together with a snail!
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Please comment if you have any idea to its identification. Thanks!

Backyard's Mini-Rafflesias

Ever seen a flower that is as big as a car tyre and as smelly as rotten meat? Such a flower would be a Rafflesia Flower but I found a few flowers who are also that big and smelly- in my own backyard. Can you believe that?
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I was walking around my backyard hunting when I smelt something really bad, like rotten meat. I thought that there should be a dead rat somewhere around but didn't find any. Suddenly the smell stopped. And then its started again. What exactly was this? I found my way to a few giant maroon flowers. As you can see in the picture, its was big and had flies all around. It had a horrible stench, the worse that I have ever smelt. This was how the inside of the flower looked like, often full of flies.
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I have to admit that i was forcing myself to take these few shots. The smell was so bad that I could not even go close for a while. But it looked like at some moment, the flower could control its smell. At first it was really smelly, and then suddenly the smell was gone, and then back again. More flies appeared when the stench grew even more unbearable.
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Here's another one of the big flowers. This one was slowly dying off. I've circled a 'Trilobite Beetle' that was on the flower. Click on the image to see the beetle more clearly. I'll post about them next.
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Friday, October 30, 2009

Hunting in a Paddy Field

Walked to a nearby paddy field in the morning to release the Great Diving Beetle that I caught the night before. On the way to the field I caught some insects on camera. One of them was this small damselfly.
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It was pretty early when i reached there and there wasn't much creatures to be seen apart from some birds like kingfishers and herons. I released the diving beetle in a stream and walked on looking for other critters. I came across this blue dragonfly but it was pretty agile and so I couldn't really get close to it.
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Because of the back light my camera couldn't really get its colours properly. Just as I got to shoot its head, I shook a little as I pressed the shutter. Damn!
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The dragonfly left and so I continued walking around till I spotted this colourful butterfly, probably a Plain Tiger.
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While I was busy trying to get some good shots of the butterfly, i did not notice that something else had been aptured in one of the photos. Lets see if you can spot the hidden creature in this next shot. Comment if you spot it.
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Well that was all for the Paddy field visit that day. I did film a lot of birds wit my old Panasonic Video camera though.

An Unusual Visitor: The Great Diving Beetle

At night I was sitting in the balcony looking at some bats flying around when I heard a 'buzzz...' sound near me. I looked around and noticed that there was a beetle on the floor, upside-down. I got the beetle to its normal position but it still could not really crawl on the ground. I switched on more lights to see it clearly then. It was a Great Diving Beetle!
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I took these shots after having placed it in a bucket full of water. It was a beautiful insect, about 5-6cm in length. It was an excellent swimmer too as it swam gacefully along the sides of the bucket.
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Probably my first time encontering this animal in the wild. I decided to release it in a Paddy field the next morning as that was my hnting destination for tomorrow.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Weird Red Cicada-Like Moths

I have come across this insect many times in India, but I always found it hard to photograph them because they fly off at the very moment we come close to them. Their flight is also very creepy as they expose a white colour beneath their wings. However, during June, i was easily able to shoot these creatures. The one reason that allowed me to is... RAIN.
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These creatures tend to become very inactive after rain. They will just stad still or just turn around upon our approach. The rain, which makes them wet, seems to affect their usual habits of flying off easily.
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I'm not really sure what these insects exactly are. they are not cicadas despite their slightly similar look. They have not be known to make any sounds either. However, their movements are similar. I have not been able to identify this insect so for now I shall just call it the Cicada-Like Moth.
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They are usually found in groups. Some groups can even count upto 20 individuals! They are most commonly encountered on tree trunks a few feet above the ground, on the trunks of Rubber Trees in Rubber Estates (Which are very common in my area. Even my dad owns 10 acres of Rubber Estate there.)
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Ants and Aphids- The Perfect Partners

I was walking around my house, in between the bushes looking for insects. I encountered these tiny aphids on a small vine/climber, and these aphids were closely monitored by harmless red ants (Not the ones that bite painfully).
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Its true that these ants and aphids are the perfect partners, just like the Clownfish and the Sea Anemone. Aphids are pests that destroy plants by sucking out the minerals and vitamins that the plant needs. However, they produce a sweet liquid from their backs that attracts the ants. the ants feed on this sweet liquid and in return, they provide protection to the aphids from other predators.
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Here's a much closer look at the aphids. They come in different colours and sometimes sizes, although they are usually small. Sorry for the heavily cropped picture.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Spider with Two Tails

Right now you're looking at a spider known as the Two-Tailed Spider. I spotted this one in the balcony while I was trying to shoot some dragonflies. It is pretty common here but I don't know if its common in Singapore. (Click on image for a better view)
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The Two-tailed Spider (Hersilia savignyi) is a species of arachnid found in India, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. It is most common in southern India. It lives on the trunks of large trees (most commonly on the trunk of the coconut palm). It is also found often in houses.
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Its color closely matches that of the tree trunks in which it lives. It feeds on moths, ants, and small spiders. Its cocoon is generally laid in the holes or crevices of trees. It has long spinnerets that make this species easily identifiable. It has big fangs that makes it look dangerous. However, a bite from this spider, though a bit painful, is not that dangerous to humans. Here's a shot of it as it tries to flee before the flash.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Butterflies Fluttering Around the Flowers

I woke up in the afternoon feeling much more relaxed and comfortable. I took out to the frontyard and noticed some black butterflies fluttering around the Ixora flowers. I took some shots one of the butterflies kept following the other one.
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When I was younger, at the age of about 7 to 8, I used to be crazy about butterflies. whenever I found caterpillars, I would collect them and grow them till the emrge as a butterfly. Looking at these butterflies brought back old memories...
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Fireflies

"You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep..."
This is from the song 'Fireflies' by Owl City. Fireflies are commonly seen in sub-urban and rural parts of India. Even in the bustling cities, a few may be seen at night. However in Singapore, we hardly see any fireflies. Why? The main reason is of course, urbanisation. However, another reason is because of the street bright lights during the night. In India, once night falls in sub-urban areas, it is complete darkness. This wakes up the fireflies and then they start to appear. Well maybe not them but their glowing abdomens. This is the most commonly seen firefly in India.
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Still common is another species of firefly. The ones above are usually seen around bushes and plants, outside the house. This species below is more commonly seen inside houses where it is attracted by the insects around the light.
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These fireflies shown here are rather small ones, of about 2-3 centimetres in length. However, a few years ago there used to be much bigger ones, with a length of up to 6 centimetres. Those luminous and beautiful creatures have now vanished due to urbanisation.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Yawn... It's A Brand New Morning

Yawn... I woke up at about 8.30 in the morning and then realised that I was not in Singapore. I was filled with excitement as I wondered what i was going to spot and photograph these days. I went downstairs and sat in the sit-out for a while before getting my camera out for some photo shoot. As I got into the front yard I was greeted by my busy dogs who were trying to sniff out rats from a burrow. I let them do their job while I tried shooting some flowers and greenery.
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I then spent some time trying to photograph this lynx spider that always hid from me.
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I gave up on the lynx and spotted another small and common spider on another plant. While I played peek-a-boo with it I took some shots of it too.
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Very soon I got tired and thought that I should get more sleep after my arrival. So I got in and tucked myself back into bed. Zzzzzz.....

Say Hi!

Well as you know me, whenever I am going to start posting about India, I always start with my pictures of my dogs. Well That's it! During the June Holidays I travelled to my home in India with my dad for two weeks. Here's Titu giving me a good pose with one ear down and one ear up.
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Tiky lying down with her nose right infront of the camera.
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This is the look that Tiky gives when she needs more attention from others. I find it really cute, especially the way she swishes her tail and her whole body.
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Another portrait of Titu. Titu's much more wise and innocent than Tiky. That's probably because he's a year older and is a male.
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Sunday, October 25, 2009

A Whole Bunch of Six-Legged Mini-Monsters

This is gonna be a very, very long post. I somehow have to post all the rest of my photos that I took in Bukit Timah. Here are all the other insects and other invertebrates. Firstly, a species of forest cockroach. Very small and agile.
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A small wasp with its prey.
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A large ant carrying plant material either for shelter or for food.
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A common species of dragonfly in forested areas, the Shaded Basker. This one's a female. The males were not to be seen and I believe they should look much better.
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A Micropezid Fly.
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Agriocnemis femina, a common species of damselfly found anywhere with water bodies.
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A Robberfly with its prey.
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A Yellow Assassin Bug.
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This is an insect that I am not able to identify. Its red colour made it look really attractive though.
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I came across a bunch of hoppers in these few trips. Firstly, Grasshoppers and Locusts.
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This green one seems to be a nymph. No wings, and extremely small.
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And of course, the common forest crickets.
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Lastly, a nymph of a katydid. When I first saw it, it looked exactly like a new leaf to me. Then I noticed it's legs and figured out what it was.
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So that's it for Bukit Timah Nature Reserve!

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