Had a slow adventure in the Lower Pierce area. It was a nation-wide buzz about wild boars due to a recent incident at Bishan, but we were there in search of other things much smaller. 😛

The main find today was a praying mantis (Pachymantis bicingulata) which was last shot at Rifle Range Road during our recent Chinese New Year jungle lou hei. This mantis had very uniquely coloured fore-legs, but are normally hidden, until the fore-legs are stretched open.

#1 First found the Pachymantis bicingulata on this stalk, with what looked like an egg sac??

#2 It jumped off the stalk and we picked it back up on a broken branch

#3 Slightly angled view

#4 A very shy girl covering her mouth

#5 Shot with Raynox DCR250 at infinity focus. Too tight!

#6 Turned to face me

#7 At the tip of the branch, it started to practise some boxing moves. That’s where we saw that the inner sides of the fore-legs were bright red, and the inner joint was a bright metallic blue!

#8 *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

#9 Stretching forward. Motion blur in this picture due to slow shutter speed (to get the bright background)

#10 The sun was extremely bright, and contributed to the background

#11 As the sun hid behind some clouds, the background reverted to a dull shade of green

#12 Lower Pierce was FULL of Harvestman (Opiliones)

#13 Didn’t find many subjects, so spent a bit more time with this Robberfly that had just captured a prey. Shot under natural light.

#14 It dropped the prey very quickly, probably to get more prey

The complete album can be viewed here.

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