wonderful insect in Putrajaya

It was midday, we just had lunch.

Black and yellow stripes at abdomen and antennae / feelers

bangchik and kakdah
Garden: presint 8 PUTRAJAYA

Red bugs, an affair over Roselle

 (Update: Common name: red cotton bug,
Sci name: Dysdercus cingulatus. Thanks Andrea)

They came and hovered around roselle in Putrajaya. And now they are here too in Tanah Merah, making roselle their homes.  The timing is almost identical. They waited until roselle is downhill on age., when the first set of leaves is about to dry and die... I have seen similar red bugs over in Rosiah's garden playing with roselle too. When we were young the red bugs were everywhere, as we picked kekabu (Ceiba pentandra), our local cotton.

I am tracing what seemed to be a woman's world. 

She just dragged along the poor lover.

Red Bugs, they are on top of the world, the leaf is aging.

Red bugs: they are coming down

red bugs: woman's world!

Red Bugs: Oh, the bend.

Red Bugs: heading towards roselle.

Red Bugs: hold on

Red Bugs: lover's legs dangling.

Red Bugs: almost there.

  Both must be very thirsty,
a sip of roselle juice will do just fine......

bangchik and kakdah
Tanah Merah, Kelantan

Sprinkler and Dragonfly.

Dragonfly is called pepatung in a standard Malay Language. Kakdah mentioned about a very peculiar name cakcibo (used among Perakians staying around Bota, Parit and Sitiawan) referring to same dragonfly or pepatung. I am not familiar with that name cakcibo, because I am a Perakian with red Kedah blood.

yellowish brown dragonfly

yellowish brown dragonfly

yellowish brown dragonfly

Yellowish brown dragonfly sipping water from nipple of blue sprinkler,
with papaya leaf at the front, and  faint roselle flower at the back.

Brown Dragonfly over bamboo stake

Brown Dragonfly over bamboo stake

Dragonflies came and played with the sprinkler nipple almost every morning. Two distinct colour, one is yellowish brown, the other one is brownish. Probably one is male and the other female. I have not seen red or black yet. They really are water lovers! They do have peculiar habit of darting in circles and coming back at the same spot. Just wonder what they eat......

bangchik and kakdah

Tanah Merah, Kelantan

A little privacy in the garden.

belalang kunyit   

or Valanga nigricornis  

pic 2

pic 3
the male is fairly small

another couple, well comourflaged.
the male is smaller too.

The two belalang kunyit or valanga nigricornis  are such a loving pair, choosing the stem of Okra to hold on to. The okra and winged bean  which has been  behaving like the legend of the three sisters (click: Unintended companionship of Okra, Roselle and Winged Beans.  and Okra get entwined as in the Legend of Three Sisters Garden.),  has leaves which change just a shade yellower to camouflage the pair. That must have been their master bedroom, five feet above the ground.  They are fairly secretive with their endeavor, in fact it is me that is naughty, intruding into their privacy, without even knocking on garden's door.

In many insects and fish, the male is smaller than the female. In mammals, including humans, males are typically larger than females. In birds, males often exhibits a colourful outfit and display that attracts females.

Grasshoppers have an amazing ability to identify their mates. Each species has its individual song, produced by rubbing or flicking the lower back legs on the forewings to create either a chirping or a clicking sound . Females sing more softly than males, facilitating differentiation between both sex and species. Species that make no sound rely on sight and scent to find a mate. Males emit pheromones, external hormones which attract females, while other species use their excellent eyesight to enable identification by color.

Elaborate courtships routines are performed by males in some species. The American grasshopper Syrbula admirabilis displays 18 individual poses using its wings, legs, and palps. Males of other species may wave brilliantly colored wings when wooing the female, while other species forego courtship altogether.

Mating occurs when the male lights on the female's back and may last anywhere from 45 minutes to well over a day. In the species Extatosoma tiaratum, a female mates with several males. Most of the sperm in her genital tract from the first suitor is replaced by the sperm of her next mate. Males therefore mate many times with the same partner and other females to gain the maximum opportunity to pass on their genes. Males of some species die shortly after mating. The females die after egg-laying. (refer: Grasshoppers - Courtship And Mating).

A few days ago, 

I heard continuous clicking sounds made by one belalang kunyit from the bush of ulam raja, now I know what the sounds for. a haunting serenade, a courtship after all...

bangchik

visitors

We know about grasshoppers habitual munching of leaves, and bees nectar licking. Engineers are used to having buildings over designed . The design far exceeds usual standards as of sturdiness or safety. Plants would probably do the same. They have far more leaves than necessary. I am not too sure what is enough as far as winged beans leaves are concerned. The whole plant is so heavy and dense with leaves.

Probably some are reserved for insects to bite. It is just a romantic view to look at their ecosystem. And nectar can also be seen as what we understand as reward system to keep productivity and enthusiasm high. The plants need insect to help with pollination and has nectar to offer for such service.

belalang kunyit,

belalang kunyit  or Valanga nigricornis 
is the biggest grasshopper in Malaysia that I know of, resting on winged bean leaves. According to a laboratory studies on the life-history of Valanga nigricornis ...  it requires 6 and a half to 8 and a half months to complete the life cycle. I never knew belalang kunyit lives that long, definitely longer than winged bean itself.

a carpenter bee

a carpenter bee

a carpenter bee

the carpenter bee is undecided; is it okra or bean flower.

the carpenter bee licking nectar of winged bean flower

the carpenter bee
or xylocopa confusa 
licking nectar of winged bean flower.

Carpenter bee or Xylocopa confusa
is a large bee reaching slightly more than 20mm. Female is mainly black. The thorax is with deep yellow hairs, making it almost fully yellow except for small black patch at the centre. The species is quite widely distributed across Southeast Asia, definitely a frequent visitor in my garden, hopping from one flower to another. It seems to love every flower available here; coleus, senduduk, winged beans, roselle and okra.
[reference:  Xylocopa confusa - Asian Hornet Net]

bangchik and kakdah, my little vegetable garden  

Seberang Perak, where sea is green.

paddy.

bangchik

Blue-banded Bee loves tomato flowers

1. Blue banded bee

2. blue banded bee
probably eying the naked tomato flower, ready for a dive.

3. Blue banded bee

4. Blue banded bee
plunging horizontally

5. Blue banded bee

6. Blue banded bee

7. Blue banded bee

8. Blue banded bee
showing its very long tongue ready to dip into nectar

This blue banded bee is so special. It darts quickly all over the place, with a fixed mission to suck as much nectar as possible. As it darts, it rest and stays stationary for a second extra, before going into a nectar dip.  Just look at the length of its tongue in the last photo.., almost the length of its own body. The normal bees do not show such peculiarity.

The blue banded bee comes around solo, and it will always do so, and will always look for the blooms of tomato.

~bangchik
Putrajaya Malaysia.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: A net, torn and abandoned.

 

~ bangchik

camouflage is the game

 

 

Camouflage  is the game of survival. Even the king of the jungle, lions love to hide behind tall grass, almost hidden with camouflage in mind, preying on herds. They surge and sprint at slightest opportunity. These red bugs understand the game of survival too. They stay in my garden for a lot longer because they blend nicely with the surroundings, red on red. Birds won't come around and pick on them.....

These red bugs choose roselles for hideout and  I guess they love roselle juice too. For the moment, I let them stay as garden's guest, unless they get very rough and go on rampaging our little vegetable garden....

~bangchik 

Putrajaya