testing my new tiny Casio Z750....

New leaves budding on a frangipani

Only noticed the ants when i transfered the shot to the pc

Mundane shot of a yellow flower

All handheld, no lens attachments, etc. Also didn't drink coffee before shooting.

Handheld with my Cassie:-

a most rewarding weekend, flowers are blooming, and the bugs visiting......

these look like the caterpillar stage of the beautiful Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus)
this is what it will look like when it grews up:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/...ae/demoleus.htm

The brown one i think is the same caterpillar at a later stage (just b4 it turns into the pupa (coccoon stage) but what is it doing on a frangipani? mmh, must call up some MNS experts.....

chowhofun, keep watching ur lime bushes, one day soon u'll notice all the fat caterpillars gone, and there'll be these alienlike thingys hanging upside down some of the branches.

just noticed u're with PNS....

This post has been edited by March05: Oct 28 2005, 10:43 AM

do u notice any half eaten leaves on the lime bush? the caterpillar is usually very well camouflaged when it is enjoying itself in the lime plant so u may not notice it.
i'm going to check on my fu guai fa and frangipani to see if i can spot this critter too.

nope, none on the fu guai fa and frangipani.

But i just found this young caterpillar (about 10mm long) on the lime bush. As it grows it will change into the green caterpillar like the Incredible Hulk!


I managed to dig out an old, old shot I took of the caterpillar in the green phase (grown to about 60 mm long!), sorry, the colours have nearly faded from the photo....


Doesn't look exactly like the same caterpillar, so i think i've misidentified yours. mmm, anyone knows which butterfly's caterpillars feed on the fu guai fa? i think i've also misidentified your plants! the brown caterpillar's on the fu guai fa (i thought it was a frangipani at first) and the green one on the ficus(?) i'm afraid i'm not much of a biologist.....

This morning, the same caterpillar has grown at least 50% larger!



that's an impressive 50% body size increase in 18 hours.

yes u're right, it is different, but i've a feeling it's from a butterfly of the same family - papilio, because the general size, shape and the markings show remarkable similarities. anyone in ur PNS group can help identify it?
i know that mine is the Lime butterfly, because i watched mine grow from eggs through the whole metamorphosis to butterfly in a large glass container. I actually had to feed it with fresh leaves from my lime bush every few hours, it was a voracious eater! I should still have the photos somewhere.....but this was more than 10 years ago.
When the butterfly finally emerged from the coccoon, i took some pics and then let it go.
It was a great experience.
Why kill it? the butterflies make my garden look great!
In fact i'll try to do a new photgraphic record of all the stages this particular fellow will go through to become a butterfly. Unless a wasp gets to it and lays an egg inside the poor chap. Then the coccoon will hatch a wasp instead of a beautiful butterfly....very sad. But that's how nature works.

Hey, fly shots!

I also got.


BTW wufei, those are moths, not butterflies. But very nice moth pics.

some moths think they're butterflies.....
Shooting bugs is interesting, isn't it?

keep them coming!

I like bug3, but i can't quite make out what it is.......spider with wings?

Nope it's got six legs, it must be an insect caught in spider's net....the poor thing!

This post has been edited by March05: Nov 9 2005, 01:46 PM

you're talking about the water strider, but it's not a spider, it's an insect. (well, it's got only six legs and wings so it can't be an arachnid)
I didn't know it spins nets too. Mmmm, got to check the old nature books again.
But anyway, i like the shot.

I've been keeping eye on your thread too. Where do you normally go to take those flower shots? Your own garden? So much variety lah. The place must smell very heavenly!

I suppose you know about the birds and the bees.........

Leafy stuff....

Another leaf compo.

Here's a thirsty butterfly.

Tree Rot Monochromatic

Another nature lover, eh?
And just to bring you down to earth, these are the probable ids of those `ravishing creatures' in the sequence they were posted (common names only, the scientific names are beyond my ability to remember),
1. the Common Tree Nymph
2. the Autumn Leaf
3. the Blue Glassy Tiger
4. the Malay Lacewing
Amongst these, my favourite is the Lacewing. It looks like a flying batik shirt, and the top view of the front wing is a deep velvet black with a yellow white stripe, and a hind wing of intense orange red with black border. It's a very lively, busy butterfly in flight. Always raises my spirit when I see one.

I'm putting some really ugly stuff here:- if you don't have a strong stomach, I recommend you skip these pics.

horror01
horror02
horror04

Has anyone got a clue what these things are?

well at least they do justice to my ugly face......

wufei, they're at ur place too? we're being invaded by aliens who look like me!