Ubin’s Scorpions and Many Other Critters
Explored Pulau Ubin late into the night with the usual gang and found some spots occupied by scorpions. An interesting collection, some not often found on mainland.
#1 Found this scorpion hiding behind a tree bark while facing a bristletail. Would it makan??
#2 Think it got uncomfortable with our presence and went running about on the tree trunk, revealing just a tiny tail. It had exceptionally large claws compared to other scorpions, but that small tail did not really match up! Looked like someone who went to the gym and always focuses on building up the arms while forgetting the legs (suggested by Debby Ng)!
#3 The scorpion was behaving very well, so it allowed me time to paint it with ultra violet light! The sides of the scorpion did not illuminate as much under ultra violet light, resulting in a dark purple hue. If you looked close enough, there’s also a bubble of water at the mouth!
#4 Point of view of a scorpion’s prey
#5 Next up is a tiny fella. Not exactly a scorpion, but I’d put them together anyway. 😛 The pseudoscorpion is also known as a false scorpion. I have an earlier post on it: The Teeny Weeny Pseudoscorpion 
#6 Incredibly small at 2 to 3mm, most would have missed it
#7 No eyes! At first we thought it was dead, but while shooting this, the claw moved. It could still be dead with some movement due to the muscles loosening or stiffening.
#8 The last batch of scorpions were extremely skittish. We had to remain quiet and approach very slowly when we tried to shoot what looked like the Black Forest Scorpions. Here’s 2, each guarding their own burrows.
#9 They got pretty scared of our torch lights as well, so focusing was really difficult. Anyway, UV light again!
#10 Another one that came out to greet us. Even after they retreated, we waited around for a few minutes and they came straight back out! Pity it was blocked by that stick.
Ok that’s all for the scorpions. We had quite a catch for the rest of the night as well. Looks like we’ll be back again pretty soon…!
#11 Looks like Phantom crane flies? (family Ptychopteridae) 5 of them line up for some synchronized dancing.
#12 Lots of these deep red bugs around.
#13 Juvenile Cotten Stainer?
#14 Salticid guarding what seemed like an egg sac
#15 Going closer
#16 The mother-to-be at the edge of her egg sac.
#17 Looks like spider-eating wasp? Waited around for it to catch some spiders but to no avail.
#18 Beautiful spider guarding her egg sac. Looks like some kind of bird dung crab spider?
#19 A Huntsman spider (Sparassidae). The palps reflected a tinge of blue from the flash light.
#20 Another view of the head
#21 Full body view. One leg seems discolored, probably a new one from the latest molt.
#22 Closer view from the top
#23 Lots of Bark lice (Psocoptera)
#24 Assassin bug nymph camouflaged on the tree trunk. Can you see it?
#25 Side view doesn’t reveal much as well, but the spikes look really cool!
#26 Portia spider. Didn’t take much of this as it kept jumping about. Had an earlier post about this spider: Portia – The Intelligent Hunter
#27 One of my favorite finds of the night – a female Wide Jaw Viciria guarding her eggs.
#28 Counting her eggs…. easily 50 of them there!
#29 Face to face with a clear view of her wide jaws.
#30 Melvyn found this male weevil with a yellow powdery surface. Seen this at Pulau Tekong before as well.
#31 Looking up close, the legs appear scaly as well and they give off a metallic turquoise shimmer.
#32 Melvyn found this female Trap Jaw Ant (Odontomachus). Looks like an injured queen, or alate.
#33 Top view of the injured trap jaw ant queen
#34 Baby faced longhorn beetle! Last saw this at Venus Drive, but no ID yet.
#35 Side view of the longhorn beetle
#36 Top view. Hopefully this gets me an ID!
#37 Another longhorn beetle resting on a tree trunk
#38 Side view reveals it’s details more clearly
#39 View of the face
#40 Ground beetle, very fierce looking eyes
#41 A large weevil with interesting debris-like back
James blogged about this trip here
The complete album can be viewed here.
