Tung Kin Foong's Blog

Huntsman spiders (Family Sparassidae)

2012-01-24T20:55:00.002+08:00

It is apparently an eight-eyed spider of which I did not get the opportunity to confirm, I meant the how many eyes.

Quite big in size compared to most of the spiders we commonly see, this specimen measures about 30 mm across. It has been reported that many of this species can grow much larger than this.
As usual such encounters are always by chance, while I was on one of my week end sojourn of jungle hiking, it was dashing across the road when I notice it, surprisingly it stop half way across and took refuge maybe forgetting it is out of its element, it was on wide open tar road, wrong camouflage background, so much for being eight eyed.
After a couple of shots from my camera it took off and made it all the way to the other side of the road. Now, the million dollar question, why would a spider cross the road?

Identifying insects

2012-01-07T21:20:00.002+08:00

Coming across insects that I could not identify is rather frustrating while identifying an insect wrongly is worse than not being able to identify it at all. Friends have often console me that there are thousands of insect species yet to be identified even by keen entomologist, so what more being just a week end amateur taking photos now and than?

Unidentified Beetles

But that doesn’t make me feel any better! Sometimes it gets to be an obssession to just find out which species it comes from or family it belongs to. Time and again I sometime hit walls with a picture of an insect that will not yield its identity. What does it matters if I cannot identify a particular insect, you might well ask. I for sure will not die if I cannot find out nor will I starve or feel pain but my burning curiosity will not be quenched, it is like a journey with no ending or a task half complete, itching and prodding incessantly to find an end to it.
Or perhap it’s the sign of ageing but surely I maybe getting old but not that old yet? Senility runs on my side of the family as often reminded by my wife, could it be? No...I choose not to believe any of that!

For all its worth, if any readers here can identify any of the insects in this posting, please write and make my day!

Unidentified butterflies

And for those who wish to inform me the species of the insect in the picture is a butterfly or a beetle, you have been a great help, thank you very much and I would like to meet you in person to see how you look like. Nothing much can surprise me anymore I actually do know a person who tells me such things with a straight face, while looking at me in a funny way wondering why I do not know my insects. It is scary.........

Mountain Horned Dragons (Acanthosaura)

2011-10-26T10:20:00.003+08:00

They are insectivorous which means they depend on insect as their primary diet. As it tolerates being handled fairly well it is considered to be charming and popularly kept as exotic pets in some countries. It also has a reputation of becoming docile and calm once acclimatised to its surroundings.

Normally preferring to dwell high on trees, this specimen I encountered seem to have chosen a more adventurous path.

Spiny Spider - Gasteracantha Fornicata

2011-07-02T16:00:00.004+08:00

An unusual looking spider with a hard outer shell that is colourful with yellow horizontal stripes on a deep brown almost black background. I believe most people are not aware that a spider can look like that.

It was a challenged to photograph it as it has a tendency to turn the underside up.

Golden Tortoise Beetle (Metiona Bivittata)

2011-06-11T21:36:00.004+08:00

From the family of Chrysomelidae, it is a captivating beetle with a shiny metallic gold shell, this beetle can change color from gold to shades of brown within a short period of time if under stress or when it dies.

From what I read, the gold color is caused by a thin layer of moisture between the shell and the body and by squeezing this layers, it is able to have this color variation.

Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocela cristatella)

2011-06-04T23:36:00.004+08:00

An interesting bright green lizard capable of changing color, becoming a shade of darker brown when threatened.
Can be found in forests as well as parks and rural areas and only easily spotted once off its camouflage environment.

Gomphidae - Gomphidictinus perakensis

2011-05-08T21:19:00.002+08:00

A large dragonfly and by looking at the way it take flight a strong flyer too. There are 15 odonate families in Penisular Malaysia and Gomphidae forms the second largest family with 35 species. I found this beautiful specimen at a foothill near a running stream.

Skippers (Taractrocera Archias Quinta)

2011-05-01T16:52:00.002+08:00

Skippers look like moths but are actually butterflies, compare with the normal butterflies we often see, they have bigger eyes with thicker thorax and small short wings.
The example shown is a species found in Malaysia.

Skippers get their name due to their “skipping” flight, darting or skipping from place to place.

Cereal Leaf Beetle (Oulema melanopus)

2011-04-23T22:25:00.004+08:00

Native to Europe and Asia and has been a serious pest of cereal crops for certain areas of Europe for many years.

Adult beetles are approximately 5 mm long and have metallic looking, bluish black heads and wing covers with the thorax and legs in a rust-red color.

Angle-wing Katydid (Tettigoniids)

2011-04-03T13:20:00.002+08:00

Tettigoniids are different from grasshoppers, the length of their filamentous antennae, may exceed their own body length, while grasshoppers' antennae are shorter.

The family Tettigoniidae, also known as katydids or bush crickets, contains more than 6,400 species. They are also known as long-horned grasshoppers, although they are more closely related to crickets than to grasshoppers.

Asiatic Oak Weevil (Cyrtepictomus castaneus)

2011-03-20T15:06:00.003+08:00

With a long snout, elbowed antennae and a body shape of a snail, it stands out amongst other insect.

This is my first encounter with this species of insect.
Belonging to the family of true weewils, it has more than 40,000 species worldwide.Touching it will make it play dead.

Generally considered as a pest it has made its way to America and has been listed as an invasive species.

Brief winter visit to Ottawa, Canada

2011-02-25T23:31:00.004+08:00

Welcome news was received that I will be attending a training session in Ottawa for a few days. This will be my first time making my way to this part of the world and I look forward to it. The journey will take more than 24 hours including transits in Hong Kong and Toronto.

With a time difference of 13 hours between Kuala Lumpur and Ottawa, it is literally the other side of the world, morning over there and night here. It played havoc with my biological clock and the weather difference was a big challenge and I never did aclimatised to the Canadian winter, developing a persistent cough in no time which went away on returning home. The excessive use of heaters indoors while there I believe also caused some of the problems I had, the humidy was too low and my body was not accustomed to these drastic fluctuations.

Yes, it was really cold outside with temperature of -14⁰C at times and when you include wind chill factor it was almost unbearable for me. But never the less, I intend not to miss touring Ottawa when I get the opportunity.
This opportunity presented itself on my last day in Canada, cocooned in my brand new winter gears I brave the outdoors and step out of my warm and comfortable Hotel to join a walking tour booked in advance, as it turned out, I was the sole visitor taking this organised tour on this day. As implied the walking tour will proceed rain or shine regardless of the number of people and true enough this was honoured by my guide Craig MacDonald of www.ottawawalkingtours.com, I highly recommend this guided tour if you have limited time and do not want to splurge on expenses. Craig is a very knowlegeble and capable guide and I am convinced he has a geniune interest in doing this part time job of his.

Parliament Hill home of the Parliament of Canada.

Rideau Canal

Opened in 1832 initially as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today as a recreational waterway. Ironically, no further military engagements took place between Canada and the United States after it was built.

Terry Fox Statue the meeting point for the walking tour.

Spark street one of Ottawa’s heritage streets.

Ottawa River

Tiger Moth

2011-02-03T16:26:00.003+08:00

A Tiger Moth, also called the Day-Flying Moth as they are active during the day, has about 11,000 species found all over the world belonging to the Arctiidae family of moths.

The specimen shown is one of the many species of Tiger moth.
They usually have bright colours as warning to predators that they are toxic.

Geometrid Moth (Dysphania Glaucescen)

2011-01-19T22:57:00.004+08:00

Going by the common name of Geometrid moth in the order of Lepidoptera with the family name of Geomitridae, I find this particular species most interesting with its attractive colour and markings.

Members of this Order of moths consist of a large number of diverse families.
It is also a good subject for photography as during rest, this moth holds its wings in a flat plane, perpendicular to their body, even when disturbed it remains still and inactive.

A detailed study of the particular moth is found in the following site:

http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2010/2010nis13-19.pdf

Medan’s layer cake

2011-01-01T15:29:00.005+08:00

Medan’s “kue lapis legit” as they are locally called is something of a must buy if you are leaving Medan for home. It has gone to the stage where every time I make a trip there, buying a box or two on the way back becomes customary. Through the years I have also seen this rather unique cake of Medan evolved into having more variety of flavors available.

In fact it has become so successful that there is a street (Jalan Mojopahit) in Medan that is lined full of cake houses selling these layer cakes.

In one of the cake house we frequent, we can see how the cakes are made through a glass panel. The cakes are baked in industrial size ovens where after each layer is baked a new layer is added on till sufficient layers are accumulated, a rather long tedious repetitive process.

I have counted a total of between 14 to 16 layers for each cake depending on each individual cake house. Once the final layer is baked, it is taken out of the oven and cut to standard size measuring 20 x 20 cm each.

Next they are packed into its own box, here is where you will see the packing of the cakes being make into an exact science, design for easy carrying and efficient storage till it arrives at its destination to be opened.

If you did not make it to Jalan Mojopahit to shop for these unique cakes Medan has to offer for whatever reason, do not despair as they are still available at the airport albeit slightly more expensive. Do try out different cake shops, there is a difference in texture and taste.

Fighting Spiders - Thiania bhamoensis

2010-12-19T06:51:00.005+08:00

I chance upon a spider last week that reminds me of an activity I so fondly remembered during my childhood. Not just any spider, only a certain species is caught and the thrill of pitching them against each other in a fight certainly rekindles happy childhood memories and because the males readily fight each other if put together, they are known as fighting spiders from the Salticidae Family. Catching the spider was half the fun, your priced specimen winning in a fight against your

friend’s is an extra bonus.

To look for them, you have to search them out in hedges with long leaves preferably in a cool quiet location with minimal intrusions like human activities or traffic. The Crinum asiaticum or commonly called spider lily is their favourite plant to nest hence the name. They build nest by binding two leaves together with strands of silk, once a nest is located, slowly and carefully open the two leaves to confirm that it is the correct spider species you are looking for. The next step is to confirm that it is a male, females are no good for fighting, the males are instinctively much more territorial and aggressive, scientifically termed as agonistic behavior. In comparison, females have larger abdomens (or is it their butts?), shorter claws and display a duller appearance with more green and less blue iridescent markings.

You catch them with your bare hands as they don’t bite and are not known to be toxic. In my days, they are always kept in match boxes and the only acceptable accommodation for champions will no doubt be matchboxes of the “King Kong” brand, some of you older guys might remember this (girls don’t play with spiders in my days and as far as I know still don’t). Then some leaves are put in to provide moisture and a “homely” environment for them to hide and to feed them, any small insect will do but first they are to be incapacitated by squishing them half dead. To train champion fighters, the practice was to feed them smaller specimens of the same species, in an attempt to ignite their cannibalistic behavior thus making them more aggressive, or so we think, it all sounds so “inhumane” now but that was how it was done.

To make them fight, all that is needed is to bring two males together and while facing each other, a sort of ritualistic dance occurs with opponents circling each other with the front legs/arms open up as if they are sizing each other up before taking any physical actions. After a brief moment, the fight begins with their front legs or arms (we thought it was their claws at the time) locking up against each other in a push and pull motion. The loser is the one that gives up and runs away. I have not come across fatalities during this fighting matches but I do see injuries being sustained when an arm seem to have gone missing after a while. Properly fed and kept, I had one champion that I manage to keep for more than a month, before it escape because I did not close the matchbox lid properly and I never had one that died on me due to old age most probably because they always managed to escape before that happen

The Red Bug

2010-12-04T15:07:00.002+08:00

Spotted this small attractive red bug flying around and it was kind enough to stop a while for me to take a few photos. I have not seen this type of insect before let us see what it is.

From the photo it looks like it belongs to the family Pyrrhocoridae (order Heteroptera), described as a plant feeding insect oval in shape and brightly coloured with red. It has also been reported for this species, Dimorphism can occur, a condition in which two or more visibly different forms exist.

That could maybe explain why it was not possible for me to match this particular specimen with photo identification available of more common species. Colour and slight variation of shapes was observed when compared.

If I had identified it correctly, this species is also known as Fire Bug. The red bug is considered as a pest in the coton industries, if present in the cotton being harvested would cause stains during further processing of cotton.

Holiday in Taiwan

2010-11-19T22:31:00.033+08:00

With eager anticipation the whole family waited for the pick up to arrive for our holiday in Taiwan.
It will be the first oversea holiday for the children. Proud with their newly issued passports impatiently waiting for the pick up to arrive, while we attempt to close “camp” temporarily for the next one week. With spare keys handed to the neighbour for access to the house in an emergency, electrical items unplugged, all travel documents in hand, plants watered to last the week hopefully and so forth.
Finally, the pick up arrives and our journey begins. Perceived problems started the moment we left home. Did we switch off the water heater? Was the kitchen door sufficiently locked? Did we water the plants at the back? Will the fish be fed? Is the gate closed? Is the neighbour’s cat locked inside the house? What about the dog? Hang on a minute, we don’t have a dog! That’s it .......... we are doomed, there will be no house left to come back to....! It took me a while to calm down and be rationale again.
The trip from our home to the airport took us about 5 hours, it appears the bus driver has no ambition to be a F1 driver. On arrival, as usual the low cost terminal at KLIA was bustling with people.
Our acompanying tourist guide who must have done this a thousand times herded us efficiently like cattle through the check in counters and we were in the departing gate waiting to board the plane.
We arrive in Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport on a cool windy afternoon and the tour started immediately. It was fortunate that the wife had insisted that we bring along some warm clothing against my view that Taipei’s weather at this time of the year with temperature hovering between 20⁰ to 22⁰ C, we would hardly need them and that our air condition rooms back home would be cooler, forgetting there is such a thing as wind chill factor.

The tour started with a visit to Tamsui Fisherman’s wharf supposedly to catch its beautiful sunset, unfortunately we arrive too late and it was already dark, at this time of the year in Taiwan the sun sets at around 5pm. It has floating piers and a park with a bridge in the shape of a boat. Delicious fried finger food is sold in the park.

The tour bus took us to Wulai the next morning. A town located north of Taiwan inhabited by aboriginal people of the Atayal tribe. The scenery is beautiful with its waterfall, running rivers, hot spring and cable cars. We attended a cultural show by the Atayal tribe and were dissapointed with its presentation. The show started with members of the Atayal tribe dancing to a popular western rock tune that is really out of place and inappropriate to say the least, so much for keeping its identity and culture intact, when the show ended we were not sure what culture the Atayal tribe really had.

Lunch was at the Five Dime restaurant with its unique sculpted wood decor resembling two female aboriginal dancers with flowing hair. The food in general as with most Tiawanese food, is a bit bland for our Malaysian taste which is more accustomed to food highly flavored and spicier.

After lunch, the township of Jiufen was our next stop. The literal translation of Jiufen means nine portions, legend has it that this town was inhabited by nine families and was inaccesible by road long ago and all materials need to be transported through the coastline by ships, whenever anything is needed, nine portions are always ordered and that is how the town derived its name. For local snack food and sovenirs, a visit to the Jiufen old street is a must. We particularly like the ones which offer free tasting of snack food being sold. Popular local snack food is rice cakes called moe chi with its many types of fillings.

Today we started with a visit to the Xuang Zang Temple enroute to Sun Moon Lake, reputedly holding the largest body of water in Taiwan. We took a boat tour of the lake where we make a stop at a small island in the center of the lake named Lalu. The National Palace museum was our next destination where we had the opportunity to look at some exquisite exhibits of jade carvings and other precious artifacts from the various Chinese dynasties. Since no camera was allowed in, no photo was taken.

The next day we visted the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei where it was built to honour the 330,000 men who had sacrifice their lives during the Sino-Japanese war and the Chineses civil war prior establishing the Republic of China.
The ceremonial change of guards we witnessed is impressive.

The afternoon took us to Chung Tai Chan Monastery constructed with an unconventional design compared to traditional Chinese temples.

In the evening we were in the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, the granduer of the memorial hall was not amissed with its majestic structues and statues of Chiang Kai Shek in the main hall. There was also a Chinese opera being performed on the evening of our visit which adds further attractions to the place.

Yehliu Geopark was visited the following day, reknown for its sea-eroded landscape with eroded rock formation resembling a Queen’s head, Dragon head and other objects. Unfortunately, it was raining quite heavily on the day and we have to cut short our visit.

Of course, a visit to Taiwan would not be complete without going to 101 Taipei. It is currently the second tallest building in the world. It was filled with people to the brim during our visit and we did not have the chance to venture up this impressive building except to browse through the shopping mall, all selling high end branded name items.

On the last day before departing for home, we visited the former residence of Chiang Kai-shek. Walking along the well maintained garden with the sun shining and a cool breeze blowing was refreshing. I can imagine Chiang Kai-shek taking a very comfortable “secure” stroll through it as some of the old garrison buildings and guard post was still evident.

On the whole, it was a very enjoyable holiday for the family. The only part we could do without is the unplanned visits to commercial establishments like specialty tea house, cure all pearl powder and lingzhi health food shops, selling at highly inflated prices where we all know the tour guide and bus driver gets a commision on anything we buy.

Unidentified Assassin Bugs

2010-11-02T22:36:00.002+08:00

This are photos of Assassin bug that I just couldn’t seem to identify to which specific species it belongs to.

Basically, assassin bugs are members of the family Reduviidae in the order Hemiptera.

These small specimens in the photos show the many varieties of assassin bugs with different markings found in the Malaysian rain forest.

As previously described, assassin bugs has a short beak that sucks fluids from its victim after stabbing its prey with its proboscis and injecting a toxin that dissolves tissue. As such, handle them with utmost care their bites will be extremely painful.

Click Beetles

2010-10-10T19:59:00.003+08:00

From the beetle family Elateridae, commonly called Click Beetles because its body has an unusual click mechanism when activated will produce a violent click which can bounce the beetle into the air. Its function is to escape from predators and also used for righting itself when it finds itself inadvertently on its back, due to its very short legs, without the clicking mechanism it would be difficult to right itself.

There is about 9300 species worldwide, so identifying which specific genus they are from would be challenging.

Click beetles have long, flat bodies and are masters of feigning death, where it can remain still for a long time pretending to be dead by merely touching it, which makes it an ideal subject for macro photography. They range in length from 1/4 in. to 4 in. Generally found in shades of black or brown, adults are usually nocturnal leaf-eaters.

The Two-striped telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata),

2010-10-02T12:07:00.003+08:00

One of the many jumping spiders found in the Malaysian tropical rain forest, jumping spiders forms the largest family of spiders from the family Salticidae.

Jumping spiders get their names from its ability to jump from place to place spunning silk if need be while jumping, the silk is used as anchorage just in case it falls, it can climb back up the spunned silk.

The two striped telamonia, made famous by an e-mail hoax circulated widely around the globe around 2002 and till now occasionally still being circulated in many edited form still referencing to the two striped Telamonia spider. The hoax claims its bite is fatal and they are usually found lurking under toilet seats waiting to bite on any unsuspecting victim’s butt. Some e-mail hoax actually titled the e-mail “Butt Spider”.

Further information on the hoax can be found in this site: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/telamonia.asp

Stick Insect

2010-09-11T21:19:00.003+08:00

I had read and seen pictures of it but this is my first physical encounter with a Stick Insect, it was so well camouflage it would not surprise me if I had encountered it in the past but not took notice of it. It looks exactly like a twig and if this particular specimen wasn’t spook by me and attempted to fly off, I would not have seen it.

With a body shape that mimics the twigs of plants including matching its colors, it is among the best camouflaged of all creatures.

Stick insects are strictly vegetarians and feeds on leaves, generally nocturnal it would remain motionless, hidden under plants during the day. There is another variety of Stick insect that resembles a leaf, I am sure I will come across one someday.

Interesting facts about Stick Insects:
1. There are more than 3,000 types of Stick Insect identified worldwide.
2. Stick insects can reproduce without a mate and if there are no males, the females will lay eggs resulting in a population consisting entirely of females.
3. It has the ability of partial regeneration, for example regenerating a lost leg after several successive molts.
4. The Malaysian stick insect, Pharnacia serratipes, maturing to about 13 inches, is known to be the longest insect in the world

Dung beetles

2010-09-01T21:40:00.005+08:00

All Dung beetles consisting of more than a few thousand species are from the Scarabaeoidea family and from here splits into a few other subfamilies. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. The following photos are of a Malaysian dung beetle (Gymnopleurus sp.) in action.

Their source of food consists partly or exclusively of faeces. Those that eat dung exclusively do not need to eat or drink anything else, because the dung provides all the necessary nutrients. Making the name, Dung Beetles somehow very appropriate, they are also known as Scarab beetle.
When Dung beetles comes across a piece of dung, it will roll the dung into a spherical ball which are then used as food, some species will bury the dung while another will just stay put where the dung is, living literally on it or in it.

It is truly amazing to observe how dung beetles roll its dung, without looking where it is going it somehow manages to roll the dung in a straight line with its hind legs. It is reported that some dung beetle navigates by using polarization patterns in moonlight but the example shown was rolling its dung in broad daylight. There is much to learn on how straight line navigation was achieved without the benefits of front sight.

Dung beetles, plays an important ecological role in nature by reducing fecal material in nature and in turn reducing the habitat for filth-breeding flies and are considered beneficial insects.

Monkey grasshopper

2010-08-21T20:35:00.006+08:00

Not exactly a commonly seen grasshopper belonging to the Eumastacidae family. This colorful grasshopper commonly lives in tropical rain forest and has rather short antennas. Long hind legs are a characteristic of monkey grasshoppers giving them a powerful leap whenever the need arise.

Being colorful mostly but specimen that are somewhat plain can be found as shown in the first photo, it is most probably poisonous, the color being a warning that it is not safe to be eaten. When observe closely their body shape certainly stands out from the common grasshoppers we often see.

There are more than 1,000 different kinds of monkey grasshoppers. Generally, grasshoppers are scientifically categorized into two main groups. Long horn and short horn and this refer to the length of its antennae. The long horns have antennae that are about the length of their body while the short horns have it with less than half their body length. Grasshoppers are than further classified into their respective specific types.

While searching for information on grasshoppers, I have come across some interesting facts which some of you may find interesting.
1. Like all insects they are cold blooded, that could explain why they are more active during a warm sunny day.
2. They breathe through tiny holes called spiracles, in their abdomens as they do not have lungs.
3. Each individual has five eyes, two large compound and three simple eyes. Till today no one is sure how the tree simple eyes are used.
4. The antennae or feelers besides helping it to feel its way around are also used to smell things.

Spider of Malaysia - 1

2010-08-14T18:57:00.006+08:00

St. Andrew’s Cross Spider (Agiope Versicolor)

A colorful spider with a reputation of building an attractive web with an extra structure called stabilimentum. This structure helps to attract more prey and perhaps also explains the hypothesis of it being bigger than a normal spider due to its ability of catching more food.

The extra web structure also resembles a cross which explains the common name, unfortunately the photo I have taken do not show the web in great detail.

Wide-Jawed Viciria (Viciria praemandibularis)

I am not too sure if I had identified this spider correctly but comparison of photos available of this species of spider with the specimen I took pictures of seem to suggest it at least comes from the genus Viciria.

According to Wikipedia, Viciria is a spider genus of the Salticidae jumping spider family