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Saturday 12 December 2015

Night Walk At Old Upper Thomson Road (11 Dec 2015)

It rained heavily in the late afternoon as expected, since it is currently monsoon season for Singapore. Nevertheless, I decided to continue with my original plan of going to the Old Upper Thomson Road for a walk. The vegetation at the place were still very wet from the  heavy rain and hence I was not expecting to find many beetles this trip.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this juvenile Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocela cristatella) sleeping on a small palm tree. This is a wonderful encounter, but it is getting rarer by the day to encounter them as they are being displaced by the more aggressive introduced species Changeable Lizard (Calotes versicolor).


The first beetle for the trip was a Soldier Beetle. Its been a while that I last encountered this beetle and this seemed like a good start.


A short distance from the Soldier Beetle was a small 5 mm Net-winged Beetle. This is the second time that I encountered this type of beetle.


Interestingly, despite of the rain the place was full of Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle and this one was feasting on a wet leaf.


Further down the road was a small dead tree branch where this Chafer Beetle was resting. Not sure what to make of this beetle as its elytra is not as dark as the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle, but much darker than the usual black thorax-brown elytra Chafer Beetle that I encounter.


Just a stone's throw from the Chafer Beetle was another Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis). Notice the subtle color difference between this Chafer Beetle and the earlier one.


Coming to a fallen tree, there were several of this 10 mm Darkling Beetle on it.


A lone small 3 mm Darkling Beetle was found on a palm tree nearby.


The highlight of the trip was this first-time-encountered Hairy Click Beetle (Synaptus filiformis) resting on a leaf.


Just a few leaves away was a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).


The number of beetles encountered was not that many, so I decided to end the trip early. Just when I was about to turn back, this small 5 mm Ground Beetle was found on a leave of a small tree.


The last beetle of the trip was this 5 mm Darkling Beetle on the bark of a palm tree.


Although the number of beetles encountered on this trip was not that high, it was considered to be fruitful, given that it is the monsoon season.

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