Didn't really plan on this shot, but everything seemed to fall in place nicely for this scene of a juvenile Nephila pilipes with cicada that flew into her web just a minute ago. Photo of how I took the picture to follow....
Since there's some interest in isopods in the earlier posts, here's the classic spinypod that lives under rocks. Pseudarmadillo spinosus, with a stash of babies in the hole.
It was thought that the males have longer spikes as shown in the photos here.
When your gf is a little bit bigger sized than you!
Ordgarius sp. Probably new to science. These are also known as Bolas Spiders. They prey on moths by swinging a ball of glue at the tip of a strand of silk at the moth after releasing pheromones to attract them.
Vietnam is home to many colourful terrestrial isopods. Here are some, with most incorrectly placed under "Merulanella" on the internet.
Visit to read more about isopods, it is a work in progress but still nice to browse through. :)
Observing a few moths. Documented almost 600 species over 4 nights, excluding other invertebrates that I spent time with.
Meshed jacket was to prevent the moths from getting into my eyes, nose and ears.
Noticed this Laureola looking odd and photographed its venter through glass. Turned out that her mancae (baby isopods) were popping out of her marsupium! Wasn't long before the little ones were scampering around. They lack the last pair of pereopods and have only 6 pairs of legs.
Big toilet brush guiding the little toilet brushes.
Some people called these the white skull, black skull, tuxedo... what do you think?
Undescribed armadillid, close to Laureola.
Since my photos have been going around on the internet again with a whole bunch of falsehoods, thought I'd share the original shots instead.
This is a Cyclocosmia, a genus of cork-lid trapdoor spiders with a posteriorly truncated abdomen. More shots to follow...
Just the start of a morbid stack of ant carcasses on the ant-snatching assassin bug nymph's back. This meat shield provides the bug with some physical protection and provides an ant scent for it to infiltrate ant colonies.
Most tropical tortoise beetles have an almost transparently fringed elytra and pronotum. This particular one has beautiful blue network patterns in the transparent segments and a golden splotch in the centre of its dorsum.
Malayocassis hilaris (Boheman, 1855)
Armadillo tuberculatus is a unique isopod that has spiky juveniles but bumpy adults. Here's a shot of a colony with individuals at different stages to highlight the differences.
This is one of the species that conglobate readily and into a perfectly closed ball.
Haven't been out to the field for 3 months due to the wet weather, but it seems to be drying up! Here are some shots of a Calyptomyrmex, which some of you may call the strawberry ant, or sesame seed ant.
Mantisatta is a genus of bizarrely stunning jumping spiders with an exceptionally long first pair of legs and an abnormally elongated opisthosoma (abdomen) that ends like a fuzzy tail.
A little selection of jumping spiders that I saw during a short 2-hour stroll in a park in Hong Kong, a few hours before the floods came in.
TL: Rhene flavicomans
TR: Irura bidenticulata
BL: Chrysilla acerosa
BR: Siler collingwoodi
First record of Tekellina, a genus of tiny theridiids. It was holding 6 to 7 eggs that were about to hatch, with the legs of the spiderlings already clearly visible.
Found this individual in the toilet where it could be stepped on, and brought it into the forest where it flew onto this fern.
Shot from my mobile. Looks nicer than the one on my camera. 😅
Meet Asia's answer to the pelican spiders of Africa and Australia. This male Dolichognatha has jaws so long that its head has to be extended narrowly like that of a giraffe's neck. Even with the elongated head, the jaws still extend far below the spider's body. Cool ya?
This peculiar orange polka-dot speckled oddball is an orb weaver spider, Ocrepeira albopunctata. It was less than 5mm in size but captivated many of us while waiting for the drizzle to end.
Brought the kids to learn about trapdoor spiders and tarantulas. Here's the elder sister luring the trapdoor spider (Liphistius malayanus) out by tickling the trip wires while the younger one held the lights as she was too short to reach the burrow.
Secret to getting snakes to flick their tongue at you -- stick your own tongue out. Don't tell anyone else.
D850, Laowa 100mm, dual Raynox, 2.1mm cctv, Meike MK-MT24 & MK-R200 on FotoPro DMM-903s.
Some folks had been asking if terrestrial isopods exhibit maternal care and whether they lay eggs or give birth to young so here's a photo thread on their reproduction process.
After mating, the female's eggs are produced and stored in her marsupium for about a month. [1/7]
Pleasantly surprised to find a healthy population of these tiny, periscope spiders. The ocular quad sits on a highly elevated tubercle for the periscopic look.
The orchid mantis is a spectacular beauty with legs and abdomen resembling the petals of an orchid (see comments). Interestingly, we don't usually see them in proximity to any orchids.
Augusta glyphica (Guérin, 1839) belongs to a monotypic genus, is endemic to
#Madagascar
, has a super flat abdomen that allows light to pass through, and fluoresces brightly under ultraviolet. Now that's a cool
#spider
!
Not a mantis. Not a fly.
Mantisflies are parasitoids of spider eggs. They lay eggs under a leaf neatly spaced apart and close to spider egg sacs. After hatching, the larvae go off in search of spider eggs to do their parasitoid job while the spider mum cares for them cluelessly.
Xylethrus superbus Simon, 1895
Its wart-like texture on the abdomen is littered with red-ringed muscular depressions that looked like the Eye of Sauron, fringed with numerous tubercles in all directions, with the longest one extending posteriorly like a tail.
Waita Lodge, Ecuador
I didn't find any lifer lantern bugs on my recent trip to Mulu, but I did find some colourful planthoppers from the same family.
TL: Scamandra rosea
TR: Scamandra polychroma
BL: Penthicodes bimaculatus
BR: Penthicodes farinosus
Following up on my post yesterday, here's the cicada shortly after pumping out its new wings. This vulnerable moment lasts for just a few minutes before its wings start to turn gray and eventually to black. [1/2]
I thought these traffic-light-colored bugs from the genus Pycanum were at different life stages. Then I realised that they did not differ much in size....?
The moth fly typically has hairy wings and often goes unnoticed. Many reside in our toilets too, which explains their other common name, the drain fly.