I was out of the country since last Sunday (20 October) and was back yesterday evening. Hence, I had to give my routine walk along the TreeTop Walk trail a miss this week. I would be resuming my weekly schedule next week. Nevertheless, I still had plenty of stuff observed in my past few trips that I could share in this weekly note.

Besides the plants, I was also able to observe 2 insects in the same location respectively over the last few weeks --- a lone wasp (Liostenogaster species) constructing its nest under the leaf of a Leea indica (Bandicoot Berry) (Fig. 1) and a group of hairy moth caterpillars on an unknown plant (Fig. 2). I assumed the same wasp had been patiently working on its nest over the last one month. The progress seemed to be very slow judging from the changes to the nest since the time that I first spotted it.

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Fig. 1: A wasp (Liostenogaster species) patiently constructing its nest over time.

As for the caterpillars, I was surprised that they had been chewing on the leaves for that many weeks although their numbers had decreased over time. I had highlighted the sighting of these caterpillars in an earlier note on 22 September. While it was not possible to take the pictures of the same caterpillar each time, there appeared to be little changed to the appearance of them over time.

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Fig. 2: A group of moth caterpillars on an unknown plant observed over time.

On the plant side, I had managed to observe the flowering and fruiting of a Uncaria elliptica climber Over a few weeks (Fig. 3). This plant should be the same specimen reported in its rediscovery article published in 2022 [1]. The climber was located quite a distance away from the TreeTop Walk bridge and was climbing on top of a tall Koompassia malaccensis (Kempas) tree, as per the description in the article.

12 September 2024	27 September 2024	10 October 2024	17 October 2024
Fig. 3: Flowering and fruiting of a Uncaria elliptica climber observed over time.

Reference:

[1] Ng XY, Yong JKL, Lim RCJ. Rediscoveries of two Uncaria Schreb. (Rubiaceae) species in Singapore. Nature In Singapore 2022;Supplement 1:e2022118. | Read article |