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Friday 16 January 2015

Night Walk At MacRitchie Reservoir (16 Jan 2015)

It's been a while that I last been to the MacRitchie Reservoir and so I decided to go there to take a look for the night. The place looked pretty dry and strong wind was blowing intermittently overhead. I was pretty surprised to see hundreds, if not thousands of termites moving up different trees along the trail. Not too sure if it is a sign that it will be raining heavily in a few days' time.


The first beetle for the trip was a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis). Interestingly, I only managed to find two of this beetle, which is unusual as they usually appear in large numbers on the Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) plant.


The next beetle was a Leaf Beetle which was rather camera shy and it quickly moved away when it realized that it was being photographed. I was testing out my new DIY flash diffuser and was struggling to get a good camera setting with this beetle.


The place was very dry and I hoped that it is not another repeat of last year dry season that saw the demise of many plants and trees, which in turn impacted the beetle populations. This Darkling Beetle was found on a dry fallen tree.


Moving on, this was the only type of beetle (Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle) that came out in large numbers and were seen all along the trail.


On a dried up fallen tree was this lone 3 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil.


On a tree nearby were several of this 5mm Darkling Beetles.


The number of beetles along the trail seemed few and it was only after walking for a while before I found this first-time-encountered beetle. Not sure what type of beetle it is.


There was a woodpile nearby and I was hopeful that I will find some beetles on it. True enough, I managed to find a few of this Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).


On another side of the woodpile were a few Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta).


There were several of this 5 mm beetles near by but I am not sure what type of beetle it is. It looked like a Darkling Beetle.


Only after walking for a while that I found this 6 mm first-time-encountered Darkling Beetle.


Near to the Darkling Beetle was a first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil.


Moving to another fallen tree along the trail, several of this small 4 mm Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa) were running up and down the side of the tree.


At the end of the fallen tree was a hollow and a Darkling Beetle was found hiding in it.


Time passes quickly even though not many beetles were encountered, it was almost time for me to go. Just at the point where I decided to turn back, this Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) was seen resting motionlessly on a leaf. Just about 1 meter from this Long Horned Beetle was another Epepeotes luscus Long Horned Beetle.


In a small crevice of a fallen log was this 2 mm beetle.  Not sure if it is a Fungus Beetle or a Darkling Beetle.


On the top side of the fallen log was a Darkling Beetle.


On the way back towards the entrance, I was thrilled to be able to find another Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes).


The last beetle for the trip was an Ambrosia Beetle found just centimeters from the Long Horned Beetle.


The trip was not as fruitful as expected but it did yield a few first-time-encountered beetles. I sincerely hoped that the weather would not be like last year and we will have the usual rainfall for the period.

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