A Short Afternoon Walk Along MNT

Ardisia elliptica is a shrub that bears whitish pink axillary inflorescence. Its drupes are small and spherical, growing in clumps, initially pale red and turning dark purplish when they are ripe. Interesting to know that about last year this time, the same shrub at the entrance to the MacRitchie Nature Trail (MNT) was flowering as well (see here).

I don't know how many species of planthopper in Singapore. It was my first sighting of this exceptionally small planthopper with a pair of light-blue furry wings which was found underneath a leaf besides the Ardisia shrub.

I guess this is a species of fly with a pair of long antennae.

Chocolate Pansy (Junonia hedonia ida) is a common butterfly in the parks and along forest fringes due to the abundance of its larval host plant Red Flame Ivy (Hemigraphis alternata), a common weed. I was fortunate to spot a mating pair which stayed quite still for me to take a few shots.
The Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane) was not seen previously by me in MNT though the species has established its permanent residence status in many parts of Singapore. This picture looks like a female Neurothemis fluctuans dragonfly resting on a piece of wood. She has the habit of coming back to the same perch after darting off whenever I came near to her.
This looks like a female Jumping Spider (Telamonia festiva ?), playing hide-and-seek with me on the leaf surface.

A kind of soldier fly with yellow-stripped abdomen rested peacefully on a palm tree leaf.

Two different Lycaenids were ovipositing on the young shoot of a jungle vine which looks like Combretum sundaicum (Family : Combretaceae) - only 3 leaves left on this plant.

This looks like a small size "under-nourished" Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa lambi) laid a tiny egg on the tip of the vine followed by a Common Caerulean (Jamides celeno aelianus). I should have take a picture of the egg.

It has been a few weeks since my last blog post on nature sightings at Bukit Timah Hill. I should be updating this blog with one more write-up before I head north again in early June to Kinabalu National Park this time.