Friday, July 17, 2009

A Short Outing to Punggol Wasteland

My last visit to this wasteland was more than two months ago (see here). On a early Saturday (11 July) morning, I made a short outing there. I was quite glad to see that the massive earthwork nearby has not reached this wasteland yet. But we all know it is a matter of time.

Beetles belong to the order Coleoptera which is characterized by having a hardened pair of forewings that cover and protect the functional membranous pair of hindwings. This light brown beetle with its orange tip antennae sticking out was found foraging on a grass blade.This looks like a Squash Bug belonging to the order Hemiptera -insects with piercing and sucking mouthparts. It stayed quite still for quite a while and loved embracing the tip of a leaf.I know this is a kind of crab spider. Beyond that I can't tell you anything. I find that human face-like abdomen really interesting and cute. It stayed motionless on the leaf waiting for its first prey of the day. The number of No Brand Glass Yellow (Eurema brigitta senna) butterfly has dwindled a lot, only two or perhaps three individuals were sighted. I was fortunate to be able to shoot this female trying to lay egg on the host plant, Chamaecrista mimosoides. The tall and fast growing Lalang grass has started to dominate the area. This groumd level creeper which I featured before in my early post with trifoliate leaves which are a-bit-rounded was quite abundant. But not many flowers were seen. The purplish blue flowers are rather small and cute. With reference to Plant Observatory, this wild creeper may be Calopogonium mucunoides. I suspect this is Ludwigia hyssopifolia (Family : Onagraceae) which was about 1 m tall near the entrance of the trail. Each small but attractive yellow flower has 4 sepals and 4 petals. I didn't realise there was this tiny beetle-like insect on the petal moving towards the stamens. Here is another shot which shows the leafs.
This is another wild flower which I have not seen and shot before . Growing at the sandy area, this small and short plant produces tiny and pretty yellow flower on top of each main stem. I wonder what this plant is.


Next time, I may want to capture the beauty of the wild scenery around this area just like Samuel did for Lorong Halus. However, due to the constraint of my camera lens, I hope Samuel or someone can come to this place to capture the natural beauty that this place has presented to us before it is lost completely and permanently.

8 comments:

  1. That light brown beetle, I've seen one like it near my house, do you know its exact name?
    I'd appreciate your help!

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  2. That first beetle, the light brown one, sure looks like a grapevine beetle to me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samuelhuckins/2682539719/

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  3. http://nemasysinfo.co.uk/chafers.shtml

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  4. What is that first beetle called?

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  5. Hi,
    I believed the first beetle is called Leaf Eating Chafer Beetle (Aprosterna pallide. It is a very common beetle in Singapore.

    David

    http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/

    ReplyDelete
  6. From post: "I suspect this is Ludwigia hyssopifolia (Family : Onagraceae) which was about 1 m tall near the entrance of the trail. Each small but attractive yellow flower has 4 sepals and 4 petals." [your photo: flower & foliage]

    Your photo shows Ludwigia peruviana (Peruvian Primrose-Willow, Marsh Primrose).

    Note the relatively-large flowers (2-4cm across) with 4 (rarely 5 or 6) broadly spade-shaped, blunt-tipped petals, which are either fully yellow or tinged whitish around the flower's centre -- as depicted by your close-up photo of the flower.

    This moisture-loving shrub is native to Mexico, Central & South America. It is the only Ludwigia spp. that is categorized by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity (2009) as naturalized to S'pore. (Note: Ludwigia sedioides is cultivated, while the other Ludwigia spp. are casual exotics.)

    Photos & info for Ludwigia peruviana:
    * Weeds of Australia
    * Plants of Hawaii
    * Australian Weeds Committee National Initiative
    * Alabama Plants
    * Plant Observatory Sg
    -- Note: The bottom set of photos are all Ludwigia peruviana -- not L. octovalvis (Longleaf Willow-Primrose) as indicated, but you can compare the differences between the 2 said species.

    In contrast, the flowers of Ludwigia hyssopifolia (Water Primrose) are much smaller (petals only 2-5mm long) relative to the foliage. The flowers are also ovately-shaped & have sharp tips.

    Photos & info for Ludwigia hyssopifolia:
    * Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants
    * Phyto Images (Southern Illinois University)
    * Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility
    * Plant Observatory Sg

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  7. From post: "Growing at the sandy area, this small and short plant produces tiny and pretty yellow flower on top of each main stem. I wonder what this plant is." [your photo]

    That's Stylosanthes hamata (Caribbean Stylo, Cheesytoes -- family: Fabaceae).

    This sub-shrub is native to Florida (USA), Caribbean & certain parts of South America (Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Peru). In S'pore, it is found as a naturalized weed at disturbed sites & infertile wastelands.

    Photos & info:
    * Flora of Singapore
    * Weeds of Australia
    * Tropical Forages


    A very similar-looking species would be Stylosanthes humilis (Townsville Stylo), which is native to Arizona, Mexico, Cuba, Central America, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia & Colombia.

    The stems of Stylosanthes humilisare covered with short fine hairs along one side (just like S. hamata), but it also has longer bristly hairs scattered on the stems nodes & around the flowers/ fruits -- see photo.

    * Weeds of Australia
    * Tropical Forages

    ReplyDelete