Skippers and Other Interesting Critters at Mandai

On 12 Oct I met with up WH at the Casurina Curry Restaurant. After a quick roti prata breakfast, we boarded Bus 138, heading for Mandai. Shortly after alighting from the bus, I spotted this Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) curling itself on tree branches near the reservoir edge.

While we were on our way walking towards the butterfly hot spot, WH spotted a beautiful shield bug (?) which I have never seen before.

A slight tweak of the shooting angle produced a different background colour.

Strangely, I have not been sighting skippers as frequently as I used to for quite awhile. So even this small and dull Starry Bob (Lambrix stellifer) could excite us as it presented us with a nice perch on a blade of grass at the entrance to the trail leading to the butterfly hot spot. 

A very dark skipper was spotted at a shady spot a few meters off of the forest trail. It appeared to be The Paintbrush Swift (Baoris oceia).

A glimpse of  the white dots on its upperside wings should be useful for identifying the species.

At one dead end corner of the forest trail, this small dragonfly with a prominent yellow segment on the body was rather sensitive to my presence. With a bit of luck and perseverance, I finally took a shot of it which looks like the Pseudothemis jorina.

Another small dragonfly was taking an afternoon nap along the forest trail.

Along the forest trail, a kind of micropezid fly drew my attention as it looked new to me.

From my first glance, I noticed the abdomen of this dragonfly was exceptionally short. My first impression was that it might be something different. After checking the book - Dragonflies of Singapore, I believe this is the Sapphire Flutterer (Rhyothemis triangularis).

I feel that planthoppers belonging to the insect order Hemiptera has not been widely studied. I encountered two different Flatid planthoppres on two different weekends - I have no clue what they are !

This shot was taken along the trail leading to the butterfly hot spot.

At the butterfly hot spot, this wasp was seen diligently visiting almost every Melastoma fruit, chasing away butterflies occasionally. 

I am not sure if I have seen or shot this small seed bug before found along the park connector. 

Lastly, I saw a moth flying past me and landed on a big tree trunk. Do you see something else resting on the moth?

The butterfly hot spot has been rather quiet since last week of October. I am sure very soon either the flowers or fruits there will bring back insect activity again.