101231 Venus Drive

I can't think of a better way to end one year and start the next than with a nice night nature trip. Very glad that I could find company or I would have missed so much. I had a great time showing Venus Drive to Kok Sheng, Geraldine and Edna. Also very glad to have met Nicky (Macro Photography in Singapore) who kindly shared many things with me including where to find 2 spiders I have looked high and low for but have yet to see.

Highlights of this special trip include the mysterious Tingid bug, a very beautiful Sparassid and the surprising capabilities of the Panasonic DMC-TZ10.


Nicely patterned cranefly. Resting wing configuration suggests it to be Limoniidae.


When startled, its wings changed configuration to that of Tipulid. I guess this means that wing configuration is not a very reliable way to distinguish between Limoniidae and Tipulidae.


Many wolf spiders (Lycosidae) were seen as usual. This one was carrying an egg sac.


Kok Sheng spotted this beautiful huntsman spider (Sparassidae).


This spider looks very much like a huntsman spider. I really suspect than some huntsman spiders have some degree of control over their color to match their surroundings.


A small yet beautiful spider I have not seen before.










The unidentified Tingid spotted previously by Marcus and Jac. It is probably a Ypsotingis. There were at least 3 of these tingid bugs on the same tree.

Swee Hee has kindly advised on using the key in Lace Bug Genera of the World (page 23) to identify this species but I'm having trouble reading the wings; what does seriate mean? However from the key, I think it is not Y. sideris because the cysts on this one covers the other ridges between the cysts. Thanks so much Swee Hee!

EOL has illustrations of 3 of the Ypsotingis and the closest match is Y. bakeri. Still looking for illustrations Y. bornea.


On the same tree as the tingid was this strange looking bug. Very tiny, less than 1 cm long.


and this tiny Polydesmid millipede which was commonly found on many of the trees. Kindly identified by tasmilli as from the Pyrgodesmidae family.


Large terrestrial flatworm (Bipalium sp.) spotted by Kok Sheng.


Very glad to see that the scorpions were back at the scorpion tree. At least 3 were seen, two of them feeding on cockroaches.


Amantis sp.? This one was pretty large, about 4 cm long.


Quite a few of these black foreleg male Amantis could be seen as well.


My first time seeing a net-winged beetle (Lycidae).


Edna spotted this pair of bioluminescent mushrooms.


This photo was taken using her Panasonic DMC-TZ10. Awesome what a simple point-and-shoot cam can do.