Saturday, December 12, 2009

Last Weekend of November @ MNT

It was a last weekend of November, hot and sunny, a perfect day for outing . So I was on my way to MacRitchie Nature Trail (MNT) after breakfast.

I didn't see anything interesting and exciting enough for me to pay attention to during the the first 500m of the forest trail. However, when I turned into a side trail leading to some private houses, a solitary Commander (Moduza procris milonia) was there to greet me. Feeding on the wild Mile-a-minute flowers (Mikania micrantha) for quite some time, this Commander was really "intoxicated' by the nectar. Look at how its long and thin proboscis was used to prob deeply into the flowers. The prominent orange bands on the upperside of the wings of this Common Lascar (Pantoporia hordonia hordonia) are rather similar to the other three Lascar species that can be found here in Singapore.
Occasionally, it perched with wings open and close rhythmically. So I had to observe and catch the right moment precisely in order to snap a clear underside shot.
This Aberrant Oakblue (Arhopala abseus abseus) is a shade-loving Lycaenid with two pairs of white-tipped tails, one pair being much shorter than the other pair. The rather distinctive costal white band on the underside hindwing helps us to identify this species quite easily. Malay Baron (Euthalia monina monina) seemed to be in season lately as I spotted it quite regularly in the past few weeks. A female was shot when she was sunbathing along a forest clearing. The orange coloured legs of this rather large spider caught my attention.
I went in closer and took a shot from the other side. Its abdomen appears to be transparent. I wonder what species it is.
I guess this is a kind of fly. Flies which have one pair of flimsy forewings belong to the order Diptera.
This rather small critter with a pair of long antennae does not look like a fly to me. What is this ?
This looks like a kind of wasp foraging on a Hairy Clidemia leaf surface.
This looks like another wasp to me.
Nannophya pygmaea is one of the smallest dragonflies. Male was more common and it was frequently sighted near a stream. Female has always been elusive for me. Lastly, I saw this funny thing just "grew" from a fallen tree trunk. What an interesting shape !

2 comments:

  1. well it's quiet interesting and funny ,
    most of them are common in India as i am from India
    and some of those flies are parasitoids (a kind of wasp)

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  2. Hi Sir,

    My name is Nicole and I am a Life Science Major Student from National University of Singapore. I am currently taking a module known as "Natural Heritage of Singapore" and we are given an assignment to design a poster of a habitat in Singapore, describing 3 animals and 3 plants. One of the animals which my group mates and I have chosen is the Common Lascar Butterfly. We came across your blog post, "Last Weekend of November @ MNT", dated December 12, 2009 and saw the amazing close-up photograph of the Common Lascar taken by you. Therefore, we would like to seek permission from you to use that photograph in our poster. You may contact me @ A0112524@nus.edu.sg

    We would love to send you a copy of our poster once it is completed.

    If you need any verification, you may contact my module coordinator/lectuere, Dr Ng Ngan Kee, at dbsngnk@nus.edu.sg

    Hope to hear from you soon!

    Cheers,
    Nicole

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