Driven by curiosity and the urge to test the hypothesis that the smaller, similarly brown-mottled but black forlegged mantid was indeed the male of Diego’s species (ok, driven by the sheer excitement of having little Diegos to complete the whole cycle as well), we found and collected one of these, and in a social entomological [...]
Posts under ‘The Naturalist’
Upper Seletar
With long and graspy legs, nasty jaw-like mandibles and modified appendages through which they inject their prey with venom, these house centipedes look like the epitome of all that’s evil and dangerous in the wilderness at night.
Yet they do no more harm to humans than the average spider – if they do bite at all. [...]
The mantid Diego I
Okay, so Diego’s a female.
We counted eight abdominal segments when Diego was a nymph, so we took a risk and named it a him even though we knew that we could really only tell when it reached maturity. We also knew that creatures should be its, but it’s got too much character to be called [...]
Earless agamid at Venus Drive
A very pretty male with blue irises:
More photos here.
Night macro at Lower Pierce
Marbled forest gecko
Close-up
House centipede
Stick insect
Fulgoroid planthopper nymphs with ‘fibre-optic’ tails
Why I collect
Aside from pins and badges, I have a fetish for collecting dead creatures. Arthropods, mainly, and the odd vertebrate, stink though they may. I love being able to examine them up close, at all angles, an otherwise impossible task were they alive. Likewise with the exuviae, my containers of exoskeletons and skins, and zip-lock pouches [...]
Cellfuls of sweetness
A beautiful honeycomb, the nest of honeybees (likeliest candidate Apis dorsata), measuring 61cm at its widest and 41cm across – and that is by no means the full size of the nest since parts of it have been visibly broken off. It smells of honey… pure, sweet honey, although all its cells are clean. [...]
Almost (at least) a photo a day
Susan Sontag: “To photograph is to confer importance”.
If I could, I’d just shoot everything I come across.
Failing which, I suppose these would have to do. Pickings from December so far -
‘Diego’ the mantis nymph, an early Christmas pressie from a colleague; and a female rhino beetle (both were photographed in a captive environment):
A mangrove [...]
November work and walks
In hindsight, I wonder how I managed to squeeze in all these other activities while working way overtime in preparation for an overseas conference…
All hyped up from the first recent re-discovery of the bioluminescent mushrooms, we organised a trip for colleagues and friends:
Then came the night of the Leonid meteor showers last Wednesday. We first [...]
Magical mushrooms
I’d never have considered myself a mushroom hunter (more of a mushroom eater), but ever since I photographed that lone glowing ’shroom, I was nearing the point of a healthy obsession whenever I stepped onto that trail.
Last night, for once in many visits, we was not disappointed. The week’s downpours were not in vain.
They were [...]
