Photos from Tree Top walk

[luenny]

Hi all,
These are some of the photos that I took last Sat at Tree Top walk. Enjoy.

First up, hoppers.

Hoppers busy munching away while I shoot.





Closeup of hopper. DOF a bit shallow (unintended) but I kinda like the effect it gives.



By the way, these are uncropped photos.

[luenny]

Ok, next on the list damselfly - at least I think this is a damselfly and not a dragonfly since its wings are folded when resting. Anybody to verify?

Damselfly side view.



Damselfly close up.

[luenny]

Ok, this one's an unknown for me. Anybody know what it is called?

Unknown insect.

[kuching]

Not bad. Keep it up.

[valice]

Pictures right out from the camera?
Colour feels very saturated. But I love the sharpness of the pictures.

[ranmasatome]

that bug is a Cicadellidae...also commonly known as a leafhopper.. Order Hemiptera. These orange ones are pretty common in singapore...but i never got down to seriously identfying them...a friend of mine is an expert in these insects... maybe can ask him if youre serious about this insect.

Pictures are sharp but the colour like a little dark?? Capturing too much of the flash light only perhaps?

[trident]

Luenny,
nice shots, wish i could shoot like that.
picture is sharp but a little dark.
maybe that's your style.

[budak]

Justin, think the red bug should be Homoptera la... Bothrogonia ferruginea... the nymphs have fuzzy hairs all over them

[ranmasatome]

Hiaz... budak.. i was wishing not to go into this...it is a little confusing..
The order Hempitera is confusing.. sometimes even i am confused about it...in fact i still am...but technically the order homoptera is now defunct.
Without going into "what monophyletic groups this and that" too much... homoptera used to be a different order separate of the hemipterans..in fact some hemipteran experts still seem to view them so... but then it became a suborder next to Heteroptera (the true bugs)..and now what was the old homoptera is broken up into what we currently know as suborders Auchenorrhyncha - fulgorids and Cicadids, and Sternorrhyncha - the plant parasitic bugs like aphids and scales and what not..
So now technically it works out like this...

Order hemiptera
suborder Heteroptera
suborder Auchenorrhyncha
suborder Sternorrhyncha

Truth is, all you really need to know is that the heteropterans and the "homopterans" (now split into Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha) share a common evolutionary origin.. and then okay loh... hope that helps..haha... sorry a bit too science-y for the rest..haha..but thanks for the species name..

[benny]

Some nice shots there luenny!! Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,

[budak]

wah.. so confusing.... you got the reference for who did this buggy revision?

[ranmasatome]

Yes i got reference..but post here like a bit OT leh...I think it was done sometime ago in 1993...but it took time for people to accept it..some still dont accept it, like i said... but the main point is.. it doesn't really matter... shifting big groups like orders around is simply ridiculous, like a friend of mine said.. you can always find monphyletic groups if you look hard enough..and there are a lot of scientist out there trying to make a name for themselves... regardless... like i said.. all you really need to know is not what people choose to call them..but that there was common evolutionary origin..then just pick one system to stick with....but that aside.. whether it be homoptera or Hemiptera...
Its a pretty cool shot by luenny...and i'm looking forward to the macro outing on the 16th.. hope it doesn't rain...but rain also nevermind.. i shooting with P&S that day..hahaha!! DSLR people seem to have a scrambled look on their face when it rains.. unless you have those high end ones..haha..

[luenny]

You guys are confusing me with the names. I'll just leave it as leafhopper. That's all I can absorb now.

As for the pics, not straight out of the camera. I did adjust the levels and curves for most of them. Hmm ... I think that's about all I did. No cropping except for the leafhopper which I crop off the top because of too much blank space at the top. Didn't want to PP to much. Color saturation may be because of the leveling I think.

[luenny]

Ok, I've been busy during the weekend with visitors and changes at home so don't have time to go shoot. Anyway, here's some more from the same trip.

This time ants (or rather ant). Giant forest ant. This guy's more than an inch long.



And some close ups.

[luenny]

Luenny,
nice shots, wish i could shoot like that.

Hi Richard,
Just practice and practice. I'm sure anybody can do it with enough practice and patience.

[trident]

Luenny,
I think I liked the ant picture best, so sharp and color is beautiful.

[luenny]

I like those a lot too. But sure is scary taking photos of this ant. It moves very fast and if I made any wrong move and it might bite - and I have a feeling it's going to leave one big bump if it ever bit me. Anyway, I have some other photos of some strange looking insect. Hopefully somebody here can help me confirm the ID when I post it. I have not have the time to look at it or resize it yet.

[luenny]

Ok, I need help on the ID on these 3 pictures below. It looks like the ants are carrying termite remains but can someone confirm that the big one they're carrying is the termite queen? They are moving quite fast so I have to take on a wider angle and crop some of the images here.

Ants carrying termite larva?


Ants carrying soldier termite? (Cropped image)


Ants carrying termite queen? (Slightly cropped)


ID anyone? Kuching? Budak? Ranma?

[luenny]

Anybody can ID the bug the ants are carrying?

[wasabi8888]

pics are nice.. but color seems abit saturated... then again it depends on what monitor is being used to view this pic... just seems saturated on mine... other than that.... great shots!!