The Flying Saucer At Sunset

Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds with a smooth layered appearance that form in the troposphere, usually above mountain ranges. One was spotted in Singapore recently...

Eyes Of 30,000 Honeycombs

With 30,000 individual facets, dragonflies have the most number of facets among insects. Each facet, or ommatidia, creates its own image, and the dragonfly brain has eight pairs of descending visual neurons to compile those thousands of images into one picture...

A Kaleidoscope Of Colours, Shapes And Patterns

Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments...

Lightning Strikes, Not Once, But Many Times

Unlike light, lightning does not travel in a straight line. Instead, it has many branches. These other branches flashed at the same time as the main strike. The branches are actually the step leaders that were connected to the leader that made it to its target...

Are You My Dinner Tonight?

A T-Rex has 24-26 teeth on its upper jaw and 24 more on its lower jaw. Juveniles have small, sharp blade-shaped teeth to cut flesh, whereas adults have huge, blunt, rounded teeth for crushing bones. Is the T-Rex a bone-crushing scavenger?

Lorong Halus - Why Did The Hen Cross The Road?

Lorong Halus
East, Singapore
October 2014
 
The first sight while driving along the quiet roads here was the sight of several broods of Amaurornis phoenicurus (White-Breasted Waterhens) running about, hopping over drains and scuttling across the roads - Mother Hen will go first, looking out for any "predators" (Yeah, the big metal ones that make a lot of noise when they vrooom past), and cluck out loudly when the scene is clear. The little ones will then dart about after her, trying to catch up.
 

This was apparently the nesting season. Lots of spiders were found scurrying along the ground, some with egg sacs. At first glance, these appear to be Ground Spiders (family Zodariidae) or even Wandering Spiders (family Ctenidae). But on a closer look, these were in fact Wolf Spiders (family Lycosidae).

 
Spot the spider -
Well-hidden among the pebbles and rocks...
 

Wolf Spiders resemble Nursery Web spiders (family Pisauridae), but Wolf Spiders carry their egg sacs by attaching them to their spinnerets, i.e. at the back of their bodies (Pisauridae carry their egg sacs with their chelicerae and pedipalps, i.e. at the front of their bodies).
 
 
Two of the Wolf Spider's eight eyes are large and prominent, which distinguishes them from the Nursery Web spiders whose eyes are all of approximately equal size. The eye arrangements are another way of distinguishing Wolves from Wanderers (family Ctenidae), and Ground Dwellers (family Zodariidae).
 

 
It was just after a light early morning drizzle. The Lynxes (family Oxyopidae) were out in full force among the long grass. Some were successful, with half-eaten breakfasts, while others were just getting started.
 

Due to the rain, the web of a Big-Jawed Spider (family Tetragnathidae) was damaged, and it was just getting it repaired. With two of its legs, it pulls together several web strands and spreads itself over the gap.
 

A full Big-Jawed Spider with its meal, and not too bothered about the condition of its web.
That can wait till evening...
 
This little Orb-Weaver (family Araneidae) was well-hidden in a waxy waterproof web of its own. And yes, spiders are certainly good predictors of weather changes - Within half and hour of seeing this little one, it started drizzling again...
 

 
Other flora and fauna spotted along the way, including the Agriocnemis femina (Variable Wisp Damselfly) and the Rhodothemis rufa (Common Redbolt Dragonfly)...

 

Central Catchment Reserve - A Twig In Disguise

Central Catchment Reserve
North-Central, Singapore
October 2014

At first view, from afar, this does not appear to be an insect or arachnid. It appeared more like a brow twig growing on a green stem.


On a closer look, you notice the more distinguishable features, including its huge jaws, the "bow-shaped" carapace "armour" and the eye arrangement typical of Tetragnathidae (Big-Jawed) Spiders. This is a Tylorida Ventralis (Big-Bellied Tylorida) Spider.


In resting position, the spider stretches its first legs forward and close together, camouflaging its self with its thin size, barely wider than the width of a stem.

How the spider clasps the stem, with only two thin legs...