Fauna Show @ USR Part 2

Other than the butterfly species (previous post), one of the highlights must be the sighting of four Papilio demolion demolion (Banded Swallowtail) caterpillars along a forest trail. These attractive caterpillars were in their last stage of growth before pupation. All of them stayed very still on the leafs and they were quite vulnerable to predators. This host plant looks like Melicope lunu-ankenda (Family : Rutaceae ) is not a climber, it looks more like a shrub. The trifoliate leafs are big when crushed the leafs exuding a nice scent. Another host plant, a climber with smaller and thicker leaves is growing nearby. It is good to know that caterpillars of Papilio demolion demolion (Banded Swallowtail) utilise more than one host plant.

This is a leaf beetle (Lema species ?) which feeds on either flowers or foliage. The shimmering metallic blue colour of its hardshell was brought out by flash light. This small moth (need someone to id ) was found hiding behind a leaf. Very nice wing patterns with a few black symmetrical streaks, this moth would certainly attract photographers to take a few shots. This looks like a sap-feeding Flatid Planthopper which is a member of the order Homoptera. This light green species is quite big which was resting on a tree trunk. In flight, I could see its uppersides were white in colour.

These plants are Elephantopus scaber (Elephant’s Foot, Family Asteraceae ). The elongated and toothed leaves are growing at the base of the stem and lying flat on the ground like this. Though the flowers are small, they are quite attractive and abundant at USR. Quite often, small butterflies such as skippers and Yellows and bees were found feeding on these flowersThis may be a digger wasp. It was busy using its front legs scooping out soils to crate a burrow on the ground.
This is another shot showing the wasp at work. It was very good at digging, within a few minutes, the burrow was big enough for hiding itself inside.
I saw this small and strange-looking critter on a grass blade. Not sure what it was initially, I took a few shots to realise that it was a sleeping-spider. I need a spider man to identify this small spider.