Dry season of Sarawak

**kuching** · 10th Jul 2006, 22:19

Dry season is my most favourite season as I can go to the swamps or walk on the riverbed of the big river. The water level of the rivers are pretty low.

Link to view the photos of my trip on Saturday :

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/kuchingswamp.htm

Sunday trip :

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/batangkayan-dry.htm

A blackwater river running across the peat swamp forest near Kuching city:

The river. Probably this is last peat swamp near Kuching city.

Close-up of the small inflorescence of Gastrochilus sp.(orchid)

Very rare Cryptocoryne cordata var. grabowskii is found here.

**kuching** · 10th Jul 2006, 22:26

A school of fish fry.
(No idea what species)

Aquatic plant, Utricularia sp.

The male croacking gourami from Kuching. (Trichopsis vittata)

A tributary of Batang Kayan. During the rainy season, the water level of this river is extremely high and it is impossible to walk on the riverbed. But now....ha!ha! I can explore in this river! (First time)

**Justikanz** · 10th Jul 2006, 22:28

Nice school of fries!

Hmm... Some of the picture links seem broken...

**kuching** · 10th Jul 2006, 22:52

Found Crypt. longicauda at a dried up creek of that big river.

An injured giant freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) Local name is "Udang Galah". (Body length is around 20cm, excluding the pincer)

**kuching** · 10th Jul 2006, 22:54

A species of Aroid, Homalomena griffithii.

Another species of Aroid, Aglaonema nebulosum.

Shield bug.

Last location - a secret swamp near Sematan. Found a species of Crypt (most likely its Crypt. cordata var. zonata) grows together with Barclaya motleyi.

**kuching** · 10th Jul 2006, 22:55

Originally Posted by Justikanz

Nice school of fries!

Hmm... Some of the picture links seem broken...

All the links are ok leh....which one is broken?

**Justikanz** · 10th Jul 2006, 23:06

Don't know leh... Cannot see the pictures for Cryptocoryne cordata var. grabowskii , Utricularia sp and Crypt. longicauda...

And the shield bug is very pretty!

**ranmasatome** · 11th Jul 2006, 00:29

Nice Acanthosomatidae/Pentatomidae .. mind if i put it up for identification?

**kuching** · 11th Jul 2006, 06:52

Originally Posted by ranmasatome

Nice Acanthosomatidae/Pentatomidae .. mind if i put it up for identification?

U mean the shield bug? Thanks for the name.

**ranmasatome** · 11th Jul 2006, 13:08

well... thats only the family..and i'm not even sure if its in those 2.. have to look closer at the antenna and tarsal segments i think..
i was just asking if its okay for me to post this picture on another forum for identification so we can get genus and maybe even species.. so i got permission a not??

**kuching** · 11th Jul 2006, 13:46

Originally Posted by ranmasatome

well... thats only the family..and i'm not even sure if its in those 2.. have to look closer at the antenna and tarsal segments i think..
i was just asking if its okay for me to post this picture on another forum for identification so we can get genus and maybe even species.. so i got permission a not??

yup, no problem. Got close-up pix posted in my webpage.

**ranmasatome** · 11th Jul 2006, 15:02

oh cool.. i go see.. but from the one here i'm guessing its in teh family pentatomidae.. most of them have 3 secgments on the tarsi.

**kuching** · 13th Jul 2006, 17:49

Originally Posted by ranmasatome

oh cool.. i go see.. but from the one here i'm guessing its in teh family pentatomidae.. most of them have 3 secgments on the tarsi.

Thanks. I never thought shield bug got so many families....

**ranmasatome** · 14th Jul 2006, 13:26

Well mainly there are 4..

Scutelleridae, Cynidae, Pentatomidae and Acanthosomatidae... The previous 2 are easier to tell apart.. its the latter 2 that sometimes confuses.

BUT BUT.. your bug... isn't any of them.. just heard from someone else.. here is the direct quote.

"Hi. That's in the family Tessaratomidae, and since there are no keys to species, it would take even a specialist months to find out what it's name is, if it even has one (and if there is such a specialist - there hasn't been a revision in this family for over 30 years). That part of the world has one of the least known insect faunas, and the odds are good that even a bug that size has never been described, unless it's common and widespread.

Nice photo, though. Your friend should consider donating it to the Wikimedia Commons website, so it can be used for educational purposes - there aren't many photos of adult Tessaratomids around.

Peace,
Dr. Doug Yanega Univ. of California, Riverside"

hope that helps.

**kuching** · 14th Jul 2006, 17:25

Originally Posted by ranmasatome

Well mainly there are 4..

Scutelleridae, Cynidae, Pentatomidae and Acanthosomatidae... The previous 2 are easier to tell apart.. its the latter 2 that sometimes confuses.

BUT BUT.. your bug... isn't any of them.. just heard from someone else.. here is the direct quote.

"Hi. That's in the family Tessaratomidae, and since there are no keys to species, it would take even a specialist months to find out what it's name is, if it even has one (and if there is such a specialist - there hasn't been a revision in this family for over 30 years). That part of the world has one of the least known insect faunas, and the odds are good that even a bug that size has never been described, unless it's common and widespread.

Nice photo, though. Your friend should consider donating it to the Wikimedia Commons website, so it can be used for educational purposes - there aren't many photos of adult Tessaratomids around.

Peace,
Dr. Doug Yanega Univ. of California, Riverside"

hope that helps.

So it's family is Tessaratomidae.....this bug is uncommon. First & only bug I saw last week.

**ranmasatome** · 15th Jul 2006, 13:20

yes.. you guys are lucky.. i'm going on a collecting trip soon..

hope i get lots of interesting insects..yay!!

**Plantbrain** · 15th Jul 2006, 21:24

There are many weird bug in these location there and very few have done much. Even in the USA I've discovered a few species of beetle(Dad was Entomologist).

Nice photo's of the habitat, different plants, critters, but the same similar habitat as many swampy areas here in the USA(Florida looks very similar).

And Oh, we got bugs.........mostly the type that bite, sting, poison or otherwise harass people.

Here's a velvet ant:

**ranmasatome** · 16th Jul 2006, 15:06

i think i've collected that species of velet ant before.. just never got down to identifying it cos i left it in the freezer at the research station and couldn't go back to get it..hahaha..

its really quite cool though.. its amazing how its not really an ant anyway but more closely related to wasps and bees... cool pics Tom. Should go collecting someday if i'm at your end of the woods.. we can see both plants and insects.

**kuching** · 16th Jul 2006, 21:55

Very beautiful velet ant. Never seen it before. Is this ant can be found in Borneo?

**Plantbrain** · 17th Jul 2006, 11:04

No, I've run them over on bike rides in the hills near here.
I was really bummed, I see them about 2-4 x a year.

I'm very jealous of you folks with the Crypts over there.
Agggghhhggg!

And then some.

I might go to Nepal next year to do some climbing in the Himalayas and have a stop over in SG. Hopefully that will happen.
The political situation was dicy this last year.

Love those pics.
Keep them coming.

Send them to Jan also.
He'll have a cow and love it.

Regards,
Tom Barr

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