Dragons do soar.. (and perch occasionally)

Whenever you walk along a pond or reservoir, do pause to take a glimpse of the common dragonflies that reside in these water bodies.

At Toa Payoh Town Park

Blue Dasher (Brachydiplax chalybea)

Common Parasol (Neurothemis fluctuans)

Common Scarlet (Crocothermis servilia)

At Shaw Foundation Symphony Lake (Botanic Gardens)

Common Redbolt (Rhodothemis rufa)

Male Blue Dasher

Female Blue Dasher

Common Parasol (Neurothemis fluctuans)

Scarlet Basker (Urothemic signata)

Variegated Green Skimmer (Orthetrum sabina)

Yellow-barred Flutterer (Rhyothemis phyllis)

Crimson Dropwing (Trithemis aurora)

Dragonflies are pretty awesome huh~

Pictures by Ong Xin Rui

Ants of Singapore #01 - Cataulacus (granulatus)

Hi everyone, will be starting a series on the 'Ants of Singapore'. My interest with respect to Singapore's biodiversity are insects, and more specifically, ants (family Formicidae). Ants are a group of insects within the order Hymenoptera (meaning membranous wings). Because of Singapore's position in the tropics, we have a great diversity of ants.

Personally, I don't pronounce to know a lot about these creatures but I am working to familiarize myself with their life history and taxonomy because they're such interesting, and also very beautiful insects.

Cataulacus

Species accounts

Cataulacus granulatus

Today's choice of ants will be none other than Cataulacus granulatus. Ants from the genera Cataulacus are strictly old world, and they look very similar to the New World ants Cephalotes. Cephalotes are known to be able to glide when dropped from a high distance, and I wonder if Cataulacus can do the same. All arthropods (which means jointed-legs) have an exoskeleton but the Cataulacus ant seems to have an exoskeleton even harder than the rest. Perhaps it's a protective adaptation that this group of insects have.

When disturbed, these ants like to take cover but they are also capable moving pretty fast, though not as fast as other ants. Lastly, these ants are arboreal, meaning primarily forage and live in trees!  

Cataulacus granulatus on a leaf.



Wild flowers in Singapore

Hello everyone and welcome to our humble blog. Do join us on our journey as we try to feature selected fauna and flora that can be found in Singapore.

As you will see, I am primarily interested in plants and hence, I will be mainly sharing about certain plants that I observe during my field work and discovery trips to various parts of Singapore. These plants are easy to miss as they can be quite small and hard to spot in a homogenous patch of green vegetation. Hence, I hope that these pictures will interest you to take a closer look at your environment the next time you visit a park or take a nature walk. Who knows what interesting plants you might see if you pay a little more attention? ;)

Ipomoea triloba

Kranji, Singapore

 Spathoglottis plicata

Kranji, Singapore

Sphagneticola trilobata

Kranji, Singapore

 Bidens alba

Kranji, Singapore

The pictures above are just a small collection of wild flowers in Singapore, all patiently taught by my mentor as I am still very new to plants and plant IDs. You might be familiar with Sphagneticola trilobata (Creeping Daisy) as it is commonly planted as an ornamental plant for decorative purposes in parks and along the roadside.

That's all from me for now. If you are interested to find out more about plants, do visit the following links. :)

Some useful online resources for plants in Singapore (in no particular order):

1.  Flora Fauna Web

http://florafaunaweb.nparks.gov.sg/Home.aspx

2. Flora Singapura

http://florasingapura.com/Home.php

3. The Plant Observatory

http://www.natureloveyou.sg/

4. The Total Vascular Flora of Singapore Online

http://floraofsingapore.wordpress.com/

5. Urban Forest

http://uforest.org/home.html

 

Singapore dungabee fact #1

Not all dung beetles like to roll their food (i.e. poop). In fact, a large majority of Singapore's dung beetles love to bury the dung instead! Such dung beetles are called tunnellers as they form tunnels directly under the dung source and bring down balls of dung into the soil. These balls serve as brood balls where female dung beetles lay their eggs inside. The hatched beetle larva then feeds on the dung brood ball from the inside out!

Singapore's largest recorded dung beetle is also a tunneller!

Male Catharsius molossus (Photo by Eunice Soh)

These big "dungabees" are able to bury large amounts of dung into the ground and thus "clean" the surface of the soil. This is also why their genus name is Catharsius, which is derived from the Greek word kartharsios, meaning purifier. Kinda cool huh. :)

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsius

Fieldwork always provides a treat for the eyes

Follow the long muddy trail~

Dungabees can be pretty too!

Onthophagus semifex

Onthophagus babirussa

Onthophagus rutilans

Photos by Zestin Soh