Male Banded Flower Mantis in Singapore!

Continuing from my previous post about the tiger orchids, here is one of my most exciting non-butterfly encounters: a small, delicate insect found hiding behind the giant orchid blossoms - a mantis. I was combing the orchid plant for butterflies when I saw it staring right at me. Encountering a mantis is quite unusual for me so I decided to look closer and take a few pictures.

It was an inconspicuous insect, only around 2cm long and given its intricate patterns of pink and green with whitish bands, it was surprisingly hard to spot from afar when it moved off somewhere else. Until I reached home, the little creature stayed a pretty mantis and nothing more but that changed when Mr Kurt cleared its identity. It was a Theopropus elegans, The Banded Flower Mantis and it was a male.

The banded flower mantis is strictly a forest dependent species and in Singapore, it is very rare. There have been a few sightings in the past that mainly come from the central catchment nature reserves. Surprisingly, no male specimens have been encountered here as of 2008 and I an unaware of any more recent records - possibly making this one the first!

Ferocious predators, these mantids are known to hunt a wide range of insects - flies, moths, grasshoppers and even katydids. I suspect this male had been lured out from the adjacent Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, where there have been previous records of females, by the flowering orchids which attracted a great number of insect prey. The females are over twice the size of the males and their colour ranges from green to a stunning pink.

I am still in shock, having seen such a rare and beautiful creature. It was pure luck that I encountered it. Interestingly, a female was observed around the same time amongst tiger orchids at a different location. It is encouraging to know that this lovely mantis is still breeding in the depths of our small forest patches and hopefully we would be able to study it better in the future.  

I owe almost all my knowledge of the banded flower mantis to this fantastic report, published in 2008 by T.M. Leong and Npark's S.C. Teo. It documents previous sightings and also follows the rearing of the mantid's eggs. I believe it may also be the only comprehensive report on this species from our little island so give it a read!

After the drizzle @ Upper Seletar

Yesterday it drizzled and drizzled. I needed a break from school 

work badly but the weather did not seem to agree with me; neither

did the butterflies. It was only after an hour or so that the sky 

cleared a little, letting some light in. This pristine common faun 

was the first to cross my path.

The common faun is always a familiar sight in our forests, often 

flying very close to ground and disappearing upon landing. While

it may not seem to be a very interesting butterfly due to its drab 

colours and abundance, its eyes are a burst of colour. The upperside,

too, is rather bright, being a rusty orange that flashes as it flies.

The sun finally decided to poke out from behind the clouds. A female

purple duke was fluttering around the ground. At first glance, she 

appeared to be puddling; a behavior not commonly associated with 

females. However it turned out that she was feeding on minerals on the leaves.

I was scouring a hedge line for anything interesting when I noticed 

something resting on a leaf. Longish shape, black, some yellow... 

definitely not a butterfly. It was cicada; a black and golden cicada. 

When it took off, it revealed a yellow abdomen, which it also 

exposes when calling.

The day was certainly getting brighter. I was shocked when a malay

lacewing glided out of the forest and onto the grass. It was unmistakable;

with its stunning combination of metallic black, white and glowing

sunset orange. This one was a male. The female sports a paler orange. 

The malay lacewing was arguably the highlight of the day. It came to

feed on some ixora blooms as well, but it was very active and 

I was unable to get any good shots. The underside is even more 
dazzling, with patterns of golden brown, red, black and white. It 
is one of our most colourful butterflies, and was a joy to watch.

Many other butterflies were seen, but only in glimpses and flashes.

Back to reality, my shots have really deteriated. It's obvious. I bet I'm

just out of practice. While I would love to shoot more, this year was 

destined to be a busy one. While my exams have recently passed, they

are nearly on me again. I think I will cease the self- pity here. Thanks

for reading!

Small but Mighty

When I was looking for a lime butterfly, a small
movement beside me caught my eye. It was a
spider. One of the most lovely spiders that I have
seen. Again, I am not a spider expert, so I need
some ID for him.

Although he was small, he often crawled up onto
the wall, waited, then pounced on a passing weaver
ant, then darted away. I think he is trying to catch
the ants, thinking they are some other insect,
only realising they are dreadful weaver ants
later on.

This is my first serious attempt to spider
photography, so I hope it is a good one. =)

Little Orange Moth

When my mother was walking me back from
school, (I had Oral Exam ) I spotted this small
little moth. So we rushed back and once I came
to the same spot where it was, (with cam) I
was shooting away.


Closer shot.


I really do not know what its ID is, so if someone
knows, please drop by a comment.

AH again

I was at AH today, a last minute decision. I was lucky
to get a good shot of this non-stop flyer, the common rose.
It was flying around, tasting leaves with its legs, and finally
laid an egg on this Indian Birthwort sapling.

A centaur oakblue, was also about. These lycaenids

are always present @ AH, but are skittish at times.

After walking around, covered in mosquitoes, and

waiting for butterflies that did not rest, this common

birdwing finally came down.

They use their forewings to hover, and the hindwings

stay relatively still.
When looking around, I spotted this common grass yellow

pupa on a peacock flower plant.

However, the pupa has gone bad. The abdomen is

black. And it will......will...rott in there. :(

Anyway, I'll put a nice grasshopper to end off.

Please comment.

Back to the old haunt - SBG

I had been waiting to go out somewhere for the entire week and finally,
we could. Since my sister wasn't feeling to good, we didn't go to
the absolutely fab DFNP. Instead, I suggested we go to the old
haunt - the SBG. We had lunch at the new food court there, and
then went off. The first insect I saw was the male dawn dropwing.

We walked and walked but I didn't spot anything interesting.
That was until I entered the ginger garden, Where I found this
common palmfly waiting for me.

True to its name, the palmfly is very common.
There were a few awls and lycaenids along the way however they
did not let me get a shot of them as they were way too skittish.
It was only on the way back did I see some beautiful butts.
The leopard came to feed on some prickly lantana and I had my
camera ready.

Last but not least, the familiar chocolate pansy came to feed on
a single lantana. Its wings were open as if to sunbathe even though
the butterfly was in the shade.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had enjoyed typing it.
Please comment.

A spider......

I was watching a movie in my house when I spotted a
spider on our old sofa. Its front two legs were banded
back and white, and its hind two legs were brown. I was
only able to snatch a few shots as the spider kept moving.
I know the image isn't very high-quality, but that was all I got.
Yes, they are far away as my camera would not focus at that
distance. Here's the shot. ( finally )

Oh, and another one.

Please tell me its ID as I am not really a Spider-smart
person.

Moth or a wasp or something else?

Last night, I was just in my house when I saw
something flying around. It landed on a wall. It
was an insect of some sort. The insect had long, thin
wings, and its body looked like a moth. However, the
wings were rather like the wings of a wasp. Here's a photo.
It was late and dark so I had to use flash, so it is very bright.

I was puzzled. A cross between a moth and a fly? What
could this strange thing be? Again, I need some ID.
Whoever knows what it is, please comment on this
post AND on my Cbox, to tell me its ID.
It had a gray-blue back. Another photo, but closer.

Okay I am so not an insect expert, so I need help.
I hope I see it again......

Dragonflies

Dragonflies. I don't really know them well, but

I do know when it's a dragonfly or a damselfly.

They are very interesting, and I like to go round

looking for them. The problem is, I don't know what species

I am looking at when I encounter one. Here are two shots.

ID? ( for both

Please comment and inform me about the ID. :)

Some sort of thing......

In my room, yesterday, I noticed lots and

lots of ants... They were surrounding some sort

of grasshopper. It was dead and the ants were feeding on it.

After the ants abandoned it, attending to something else,

My mother picked it up and placed it on a tissue.

I have no idea what it is, so please tell me in my Cbox

or write a comment on this post. Thanks!