Critters @ NTU's Vicinity

It has been quite a long time since my last group outing with ButterflyCircle members. Thanks Khew for giving me a lift on 6 Jan to the Community Herb Garden at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). My first shot of the morning was this Malayan Eggfly (Hypolimnas anomala anomala) at a wasteland outside NTU - in fact there were quite a few of them fluttering in that area.

We didn't spend much time at the wasteland. Instead, we crossed the road to visit the Community Herb Garden. The pink berries and some fermented dry fruits of the the Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) shrubs attracted a few species of butterflies. First, a female Colour Sergeant (Athyma nefte subrata) was "intoxicated" by a pink colour fruit. 

This female Silverstreak (Iraota rochana boswelliana) created some excitement among us. There was a male zipping around but I didn't have the luck to see  it.    

An old and haggard  Commander (Moduza procris milonia) was also attracted by the ripe berries - it stayed and fed on the fruit for a while. These pink berries are edible and they taste rather nice for me.       

Indeed, these pink ripe fruits were juicy; no wonder this Malay Staff Sergeant (Athyma reta moorei) was persistent in getting its share, trying to chase the Commander away.  

At last it found a sweet spot high on the tree.

A male Baron (Euthalia aconthea gurda) perched above my head. I could only take its underside shot.

This Chocolate Demon (Ancistroides nigrita maura) was found along the fence of the garden.

As I didn't see any new species visiting the garden, I went back to the wasteland - this time I adventured  deeper into it. At a shady forested area, I saw this orange skipper which looked like a Lesser Dart (Potanthus omaha omaha).  

Very few critters offered me good opportunities to shoot. However, an Autmum Leaf pupa in its early stage was attractive enough for me. 

I also could not resist to snap a few quick shots of this fly hovering in front of me.

This day-flying moth perhaps the Pompelon marginata  flew past me and rested on a leaf when I was looking at a tall rambutan tree.

What kind of grasshopper is this ? It certainly looked strange to me.

In the early afternoon, we headed to a patch of forested area to look for The Harlequin (Taxila haquinus haquinus). We spotted quite a number of them at one location. However, they were rather alert and skittish this time. As far as I know, this beautiful lycaenid can only be found here regularly. I am worried that its habitat may be gone. 

The hindwing markings of this Arhopala species found in a deep shade of the forest suggested that it could be a Arhopala major major, but with some aberrations - this was my first sighting of a Arhopala species here.

BJ and I visited the location where I first discovered  and shot the Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura) last December. But we could not find any adult. Instead, we hung around its host plant and looked for any larvae or egg.  We could only found two dead young larvae like this.

Finally, I noticed that the larvae of the Yellow Flat ate the leaves in a special pattern like this.

With this observation, we managed to find a few larvae. Here is a shot of one of the smallest larvae. A detailed write-up of the complete life history of this species should be published in the near future  in the BC's blog. 

Many thanks to Mr Ng, the person in-charge of the garden for offering us very nice self-made herbal drinks on a rather hot Sunday morning. The Community Herb Garden is run by Mr Ng and a group of volunteers. They need the support from the public and the endorsement of the university so that this herb garden would be well-maintained, benefiting the public and the NTU community. Read here for more information.

 

A Cloudy Day @ Pulau Ubin

It was a cloudy and cool Saturday morning (22 Sept). I hesitated awhile before I made up my mind heading to Pulau Ubin since my last visit to the island was more than 3 months ago.  Perhaps students were having  examinations,  there were not many visitors on the island. 

As usual, I went straight to the Butterfly Hill. At the Nparks nursery, I noticed a Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus) fluttering and puddling on the ground.

A  male Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane) landed on a leaf  right in front of me at the Butterfly Hill. With my instinctive reaction, I was quick enough to snap a shot before he scooted off.

There were two rather skittish Black Veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus hegesippus) flitting around a grass patch at the foot of the Butterfly Hill. Quite often they perched on the dry Crotalaria retusa fruits and "scratched" the surfaces of the fruits. 

There were a few Dark Glassy Tigers (Parantica agleoides agleoides) fluttering around the shrubs as well.

There were quite a few larvae feeding on the Seven Golden Candlesticks (Cassia alata) leaves. This is one  of the late instar larvae of the Mottled Emigrant (Catopsilia pyranthe pyranthe).  

I guess this is a Detached Dart Potanthus trachala tytrleri), one of the largest Potanthus species that can be found here in Singapore. 

If you are not observant, you would probably miss this skittish Bamboo Tree Brown (Lethe europa malaya) flitting on the shady ground covered with dry leaves. 

The cool and nice weather enticed me to venture to the northern part of the island. Along the way to  Noordin Beach, I could see an orange butterfly flitting amongst a hedge of mangrove shrubs. I could only get   an upperside shot of this female Sumatran Sunbeam (Curetis saronis sumatrana).   

I am glad to see that a few Chamaecrista mimosoides shrubs - the larval host plant of The No brand Grass Yellow (Eurema brigitta senna), were doing well. Let us hope that this unfortunate species which lost its home at Punggol would re-establish a new home at the Butterfly Hill soon. 

   

Lornie Trail to the Ranger Station

On 4 Aug Mr Yano and I were scheduled to meet at Lornie Trail for an outing. I set off early and took a slow walk along the familiar forest trails towards the reservoir edge. 

At the exercise corner, a skittish Suffused Flash (Rapala suffusa barthema) attracted my attention. I was lucky enough to take a shot before it scooted off at a high speed to the canopy .

As usual, I could see some common skippers feeding on the flowers of  Leea indica  at one particular location. This is a Yellow Veined Lancer (Pyroneura latoia latoia), a very common forest skipper that seems to like these tiny flowers very much.     

A slight turn of the camera produced a different background. 

Another common skipper is the Chestnet Bob ( Lambrix salsala salsala). Apart from wild flowers, they  also love to visit the Leea indica shrubs.   

There were nothing special for me to stay longer at this spot so I moved on. At the reservoir edge where some Mile-a-Minutes flowers were growing but less abundant then before, I encountered a brown skipper displaying a familiar behaviour - opening its wings whenever it was on a perch. I am quite sure this is The Contiguous Swift (Polytremis lubricans lubricans). 

Here is an upperside shot.

The Yellow Grass Dart (Taractrocera archias quinta)  is a very a small skipper which also likes to open the wings under the morning sun.

With a little patience, I finally took a shot of its undersides in a breeze.

There were a few orange skippers zipping around and chasing each other. Any shot of  these skippers would add excitement as well as  confusion when I tried to figure out what it was. I guess this shot is a Lesser Dart (Potanthus omaha omaha ).

All these skippers love to show off their uppersides in the morning.

A Lynn spider was lurking nearby, waiting patiently to attack  its preys.  

We spotted a few hyper active Rustics (Cupha erymanthis lotis)  along the Rifle Range Trail. One of them was displaying the ovipositing behaviour on its larval host plant, Flacourtia rukam but we could not find any egg. Instead, I found an early instar larva.

The number of species we saw and shot was not proportional to the distance we had covered. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed the walk and the company on a lovely Saturday morning.  

Lornie Trail Part 1

17 May was Vesak Day, a gazetted public holiday in a multi-racial and religious Singapore. I was on a casual forest stroll along the Lornie Trail. Not too far from the entrance to the greenery and tranquility of the forest, a Chequered Lancer (Plastingia naga) displayed what a "ghosting effect" whenever I snapped a shot.

I decided to take some shots from a more difficult angle but with a brighter background - surprisingly, it stayed still. I guess the skipper may be sensitive only to certain intensity of the flash light.

At the same sunny spot where I shot a bunch of Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina) larvae here, I saw how arts could be manifested in nature - a cluster of eggs likely to be of Malay Lacewing were lined up on a thin and young stem of a climber.

This is a male Cruiser (Vidula dejone erotella) whose fulvous-orange colour on both the upper and underside wings are distinctive enough to be seen from far. Though a rather common forest species, we seldom found the female on the ground. A commonly seen behaviour of the male is that they like to puddle on damp ground with wings flapping. This was the only timely shot which captured a split-second moment when both wings were almost flat on the ground.

This is a female Knight (Lebadea martha parkeri). She liked to glide and perch from leaf to leaf and puddle on the ground occasionally but not for long. Rather alert and skittish, she really tested my patience for getting a decent shot. On the contrary to Cruiser, it seems that the male is less common.

Along a shady forest path, this tailed Arhopala hopped across the trail. I identify this as a Tailed Disc Oakblue (Arhopala atosia malayana). Seow TL from ButterflyCircle has also confirmed it.

This is another shot from a different side. Lycaenids in the genus Arhopala would increase the number of butterfly species in Singapore once some lookalikes with very subtle differences are identified with confirmation one day.

The male of the Malay Baron (Euthalia monina monina ) is polymorphic - it has at least 3 different forms here. This is form-monina if I am not wrong.

It also displayed the typical behaviour of puddling on the ground and perching on the leaf surface along the forest trail from time to time.

A small robber fly remained quite still on a leaf.

This is another slightly larger robber fly stretching its hind legs and displaying the same behaviour - looking at the trail.

I aways found robber flies facing the trail, scanning for intruders and ambushing its preys when they perched. I had a "face-off" with this guy.

Association of ants with other insects can be seen quite easily in nature (more info here). Here is a shot illustrating a symbiotic relationship between some small ants and two lycaenid larvae found on a young leaf of a Macaranga plant.

It was a fruitful outing for me - very pleased and relieved to see that the forest is still teeming with life. I will feature some dragonflies in my next post.