Revisiting the Mantidfly!

A short trip to get improved shots of the Mantidfly which I shot last month. Before the main subjects... found the usual little ones.

#1 Net-wing beetle (Lycidae) that kept rotating on the spot as I positioned the camera.

#2 A bug-eyed katydid. Described by Mr Tan Ming Kai as Asiophlugis temasek. Thanks to James for the reference.

#3 Ichneumon Wasp. You wouldn't want it to pierce that long thingy through you! (to lay eggs?)

#4 Cute little cricket, did the same peekaboo with me around that branch

#5 Ant-snatching assassin bug. These guys are the nymphs, and when they grow up, they graduate to piercing larger bugs!

#6 Longhorn Beetle (Cerambycidae), should be a young one with very fresh colours

#7 Tiger Beetle closeup (Cicindela aurulenta)

#8 Closeup of a two-tailed spider. Too lazy to remove the Raynox, so ended up with just closeup shots!

#9 A tiny praying mantis. Would love to take a back-lit shot of this fella, but it refused to stand still.

#10 Peering at me

And... finally found the Mantidflies!!

#11 Not a perfect angle but sharper than previous attempts

#12 No difference in this one, just making many shots. lol

#13 Top view. Or rather, view from the bottom since this fella usually hides under a leaf.

#14 This one allowed me to get close. Sharpest shot so far!

#15 Found another one and pushed my luck to get this close!

#16 Last mantidfly for the day. :)

The complete album can be viewed here.

James blogged about this trip here

The Macro Shoot That Turned into Something Else...

Made a quick night shoot with James and Uncle Lew to Mandai Track 15, as I struggled to carry my gear around in the day without a car. (sorry to the people who were at the other end of my tripod at Raffles Place MRT) The trip started with a hunt for the Tailless Whip Scorpion (Amblypygi). Refer to What's called a Spider and a Scorpion, but is actually neither? for more details on this creature. While looking for tiny critters, we ended up taking pictures of a snake and bird instead. lol

#1 Not Particularly Good Ant Mimic Spider (Corinnidae). James mentioned it to me, but why such a verbose name??!

#2 Lynx Spider with supper, looks like a cricket?

#3 James spotted this fat snake... what is it!?! Couldn't see the head, so we went round the tree to try to find the snake's head.

#4 Found the head!! But why is the tongue perpetually sticking out?

#5 Turned out that it had just devoured a lizard! Found this view, it should be a Gold-ringed Cat Snake (Boiga dendrophila ). Not sure why it doesn't swallow up the tail as well, maybe it was too large?

#6 Wagged a branch near to it and it started flapping its tongue. lol. Looks like its smoking a cigar from this angle.

#7 Hasselts Spiny Orb Weaver (Gasteracantha hasselti) but without the spiny back in the pic. Evidence of laziness as I already had the Raynox DCR250 on my lens. :P

#8 Rufous-tailed tailorbird (Orthotomus sericeus) Kindly identified by Ivan and Steven. Found this little fella resting under a leaf at knee-level.

#9 Bug with very intricate patterns on its back. Bad habit, missed a proper shot of the body again.

#10 Look deep into my eyes!!! Dark sided chorus frog (Microhyla heymonsi) spotted by James. I had the Raynox on, so just took a view of its eyes.

#11 A bright red assassin bug (Reduviidae) hiding in a crevice

#12 Closer look at the proboscis used to pierce its prey

#13 Moth. No ID for this fella, but it has rather nice patterns on its wings.


The complete album can be viewed here.

James blogged about this trip here

Singapore Tarantula... why do they have such a bad reputation?

Tarantulas are arguably the largest spiders of them all. Often hairy, with large fangs, these spiders can live up to 15 years! No thanks to the numerous horror movies about spiders featuring tarantulas, the tarantula has become the poster boy of scary spiders. Being big and hairy certainly gave them an edge in their resume when auditioning for the roles... :P

Tarantulas may carry some venom, but their bite does not pose a serious threat to humans. Unlikely to kill a person, unless the victim is allergic or has other complications. Despite that, the presence of a big hairy tarantula still scares the shit out of most people.

I organized a little shoot with friends to look for the Singapore Tarantula (Phlogiellus inermis) after the sun set. Tarantulas are generally nocturnal, but despite this, they still hide in their burrows most of the time, coming out only to hunt for food. They prey on other insects, and even small rodents when they grow bigger.

#1 First tarantula, found peeping out of its burrow.

#2 Slowly.. it inched out.. forming a creepy picture here as the legs looked like fingers

#3 I dangled a soft twig in front of the burrow, and it probably caused some vibrations and led the tarantula to come out. This lasted for only a few seconds, before it found out that it was just wrestling with a twig.

#4 Another burrow with its occupant

#5 Yet another burrow! This angle allows us to see the tarantula's fangs and mouth area in red

#6 Found this White-Striped Wandering Spider (Possibly Ctenus floweri). Very well behaved, doing yoga stretches while we helped ourselves with pictures.

#7 Closer look at its head

#8 Going as close as I could get! There are some really funky claws at the side of the palps... won't risk a bite!

#9 A little 3D animation to visualize the depth of the image

#10 Tiny little jumping spider, didn't spend much time with this fella as it kept jumping around

#11 Green Crested Lizard, found tanning under the moonlight

#12 Had a messy background so I just went for closeup shots

#13 View from behind. Looks like a snake? :P

#14 Long Horned Beetle. Amazingly... Victor found at least 3 couples and some tried to mate. It ended up in a brawl and all of them vacated shortly. Didn't get any shots of the scene as they didn't stop moving. I used a head-shot of this as my avatar, but til today, I still do not have the exact ID. :P

#15 Mating Season. Stink bugs?

#16 Lots of ground beetles scampering on this log

#17 Often mistaken to be a tiger beetle


The complete album can be viewed here.

Chasing the Mantidflies.. and a mozzie incident

One of the subjects that had been on my wish list, is a Mantidfly (Mantispidae). They are essentially net-winged insects or wasp-like flies with a Mantis appearance - it has modified front legs that resemble that of a Praying Mantis.

Today, we found 3 Mantidflies - all of which were found resting under leaves in the shade. But most were high above us and we could only take some record shots of it. Quite skittish as well, though they fly rather slowly so we could still trace their path of flight.

#1 Just one shot of the Mantidfly, definitely going to look for more to better my shot. :) This was over 2m above the ground, so my 180mm on a cropped frame came in handy.

#2 Cute little guy but visibly very dark and difficult to light up. Very reflective as well.

#3 Big mess of these little critters on a tree bark. Bark lice? Not too sure, looks darker than the usual bark lice I saw before.

#4 A jumping spider that looks closely related to the epeus flavobilineatus, often referred to as the "punk" JS for the mohawk hairstyle.

#5 Another view

#6 Direct view of the face. Can see that the mohawk is not as pronounced.

#7 Closeup.. look at the pretty eye lashes! lol

#8 Plain ol mosquitoe

#9 I've been wondering what these are. Often see several tiny ones dangling on a strand of silk/web. Looks like mini crane flies.. but can't be certain.

#10 A tiny Jumping Spider (Salticidae, Pystira ephippigera) that has a completely black head with a yellow striped abdomen

#11 The new passport photo for 包青天!! lol

#12 Can't get enough of this fella

#13 Looking up and down and up and down....

#14 Found another Pystira ephippigera on the railing! This one was waiting for ants to come near before pouncing on them!

#15 Yum yum... mmm... *nom nom nom*

#16 Its biting onto all parts of the ant!

#17 Last shot before it let go, and pounced on yet another ant

#18 Last shot of the day... by my friend Sagita Lamiran, of this little mosquito happily sucking blood out of me! This mosquito probably excretes the extra blood out after extracting the necessary nutrients. It also needs to get rid of the extra weight in order to fly away. The entire sequence took less than a minute before the little guy flew away a happy mozzie. Yes.. I am a regular blood donor.. -.-"


The complete album can be viewed here.