Fig. 1: My top 3 picks of the encounters during the nature park walk

In addition to the Flies (Order Diptera) I discussed last week from my nature park walk on March 16, I have also observed numerous other minibeasts. My top three notable encounters (Fig. 1) are: (1) the Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina), (2) the Jumping Spider (Cytaea oreophila), and (3) the Longhorn Beetle (Nyctimenius tristis).

Although the Oriental Whip Snake is regarded as a relatively common species in Singapore, encountering a snake on this island remains a rare occurrence. As for the Jumping Spider, it was observed swinging its abdomen from left to right while releasing silk from its spinneret to cover a pool of its eggs on the surface of a leaf belonging to the woody climber Fibraurea tinctoria. The Longhorn Beetle is typically an uncommon sight in this park. The last encounter with this species of Longhorn Beetle occurred in 2009; however, it was not possible to identify it at that time.

A commonly encountered insect in this park is Homoeocerus bipustulatus, often found alongside its nymphs on the mangrove climber (Derris trifoliata) which is prevalent in the park. On this occasion, I observed an adult and three nymphs on the climber (Fig. 2). Additionally, at least three nymphs of an unidentified bug (Fig. 3) were found among the fruits of Red Leea (Leea rubra). It is my suspicion that these might be the nymphs of Dalpada oculata.

Fig. 2: Homoeocerus bipustulatus and its nymph		Fig. 3: Unknown nymphs of bug (likely Dalpada oculate)

In addition to the highlighted minibests above, below are the rest of the encounters (Fig. 4). The outing provided an opportunity to further expand the collection of nature images and gain more knowledge about these creatures through research following each outing.

Fig. 4: Additional minibeasts encountered during the walk
(a) Episcapha quadrimacula	(b) Aspidomorpha furcata	(c) Cicindela aurulenta	(d) Tumbling Flower Beetle
(e) Longitarsus sp.	(f) Colasposoma viridicoeruleum	(g) Agrionoptera insignis	(h) Neurothemis fluctuans
(i) Nephila pilipes	(j) Orbweaver (Araneae)	(k) Camaricus maugei	(l) Viciria praemandibularis
(m) Bothrogonia addita	(n) Plinia punctipennis	(o) Ricanula stigmatica	(p) Planthopper
(q) Acanthocoris scaber	(r) Cosmolestes picticeps	(s) Stenodyneriellus guttulatus	(t) Arhopala amphimuta amphimuta