100628 Venus Drive

Wet weather recently with soggy water-logged ground on the way in but still no sign of the bioluminescent mushrooms except a few small ones that were very sparsely distributed. Some of the dead logs that the mushrooms usually sprouted from were still there though, I wonder what happened to them.


Guessing this Sparassid to be a female Heteropoda venatoria from the white bar across the face.


Hairy caterpillar. Didn't want to try touching to it to find out if it stings (definitely moth) or not (butterfly or moth).


Chrysalis in a protective netting of hairs.


Whip spider (Argyrodes, formerly Ariamnes). It seemed to have an egg sac as long as itself (photo by Chun Fong).


Hersiliidae. First time seeing the spinnerets curved like this. All the Hersiliidae I have seen apparently tend to align themselves along the length of whatever trunk they are on, facing towards the ground regardless of the direction the trunk is growing.






No idea what spider this is except it's probably an orb weaver (Araneidae).


Black beetle with orange pronotum and seems to have a tarsal formula of 3-3-3.


Moth spotted by Chun Fong. It's wings seem almost iridescent.


Large weevil (3 cm long). Even at that size, it's defensive strategy was typical of smaller beetles, to release it's grip on whatever it was clinging to and drop to the ground where it stood a good chance of being hidden.


Daddy-long-legs (Pholcidae) with eggs spotted by Chun Fong.


These millipedes were pretty numerous on the tree trunks.


One was even found crawling on the large weevil mentioned above.


This insect looks like a barklouse (Psocoptera).