The Singapore Trilobite Larva
Decomposing logs are home to many little critters and fungi. Of which, one of the most fascinating ones… are trilobite larvae. The females of this creature remain in the larval form and relatively large at 4-8cm long. I have never seen the male before, but they are said to be much smaller – less than 1cm long. (ref from Wikipedia: Duliticola)
It was a long and tiring night, and the trilobite was a last minute find while we were trudging our way out of the trail. Approximately 5cm long, the trilobite larva bore a vibrant red at it’s tips.
More about the local trilobite here: A SINGAPORE TRILOBITE LARVA, DULITICOLA SPECIES
#1 Spotted the bizarre Trilobite Larva (Duliticola sp.)
#2 Walking around, it can move quite fast due to it’s size. The tiny head can be seen to be protruding from the front when it is in motion.
#3 When threatened, it may play dead and curl up
#4 Close up on the tiny head. Say hi!!
#5 Close up of the suction at the tail, it moves in a similar manner to firefly larvae
#6 Moving fast again!
#7 Very vibrant orange-tipped “horns”
#8 It dropped to the ground while running about and we picked it up with a stick
#9 Starting running again.
#10 Playing with a bit of back-light
#11 Lighting the scene with our torch lights
#12 This is another Trilobite Larva that I shot in Kubah last year
#13 Playing dead, as usual
#14 This Firefly Larva shot in Thailand earlier this year has many similar characteristics with the Trilobite Larva
#15 Another firefly larva shot very recently, this one was much thinner than others that we had seen before
#16 A very tame damselfly that allowed me to get really close
#17 Another one landed on my tripod, so I took a handheld shot. 😛
#18 Back to the very nice damsel
#19 And a tighter crop!
#20 Whip Spider (Ariamnes flagellum) guarding her egg sac
#21 Going closer to get a glimpse of her tiny face
#22 Can you see the teeny weeny eyes?
#23 This is the most direct shot I could get as the web was in the way
#24 Sleepy wasp
#25 Another comes by to complete the composition!
#26 A crab spider captures a cricket for supper
#27 Cicada closeup
#28 Freshly molted Cicada
#29 Trying to shoot a close up of the cicada when a jumping spider landed on it’s face!
#30 Happy cicada after the Jumping Spider went off
#31 Scaly details on the Bristletail (Machilidae)
#32 Wider shot
#33 Up close again.
#34 A mother scorpion carrying her young. A little one is seen here scampering around her mother’s face
#35 Big ugly toad with a huge supper
#36 Another shot before we went off for the night
The complete album can be viewed here.
