My experience collecting in Hong Kong and Malaysia
- Thread starter yen_saw
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ABbuggin
Well-known member
Nice! It must be awesome to have bred so many species, go into the wild, and actually get to see them in nature. B)
Without my SLR camera, taking photograph of wild insect can be challenging... here is the typical one
The digital camera sometimes cannot focus on what you wanted to.. especially the close object so the first pic showed blurly damserfly whle the focus was on the background
putting a white screen behind the subject allowed the camera to refocus on the bug.... the damserfly is quite big and was feeding on a treehopper so less alert
Holding to the focus and removing the white screen, i took another shot but it was getting dark and the subject is under-expose
So i switch on the flash and now the subject is over-exposed.
just some of the problem shooting pic in the wild without SLR camera.... grrr i should have brought mine <_< it could be frustrating sometimes.
Ok move on with more bugs. Sometimes, large insects are difficult to spot in the wild. this katydid is about 3-4 inches but camouflage well on the ground.
A grasshopper
Can you find anything here? (see next pic)
zooming in, Haha... well spot
ekkkkk another huge catepillar
The digital camera sometimes cannot focus on what you wanted to.. especially the close object so the first pic showed blurly damserfly whle the focus was on the background
putting a white screen behind the subject allowed the camera to refocus on the bug.... the damserfly is quite big and was feeding on a treehopper so less alert
Holding to the focus and removing the white screen, i took another shot but it was getting dark and the subject is under-expose
So i switch on the flash and now the subject is over-exposed.
just some of the problem shooting pic in the wild without SLR camera.... grrr i should have brought mine <_< it could be frustrating sometimes.
Ok move on with more bugs. Sometimes, large insects are difficult to spot in the wild. this katydid is about 3-4 inches but camouflage well on the ground.
A grasshopper
Can you find anything here? (see next pic)
zooming in, Haha... well spot
ekkkkk another huge catepillar
Bummer... just realized i accidentally deleted some pics in my memory card.... :blink: 
think i lost about 30% of my pics.... Damn!!!!!!
think i lost about 30% of my pics.... Damn!!!!!!
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Where are all the mantises and oothecae??? j/k
Well, now I know where you went hiking because that sign said the place's name. Looking forward to more updates!
edit: Oops, I guess I should have hit refresh before posting that reply.
Well, now I know where you went hiking because that sign said the place's name.
Looking forward to more updates!edit: Oops, I guess I should have hit refresh before posting that reply.
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Bummer... just realized i accidentally deleted some pics in my memory card.... :blink:
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Sad day...Bummer... just realized i accidentally deleted some pics in my memory card.... :blink:
Fast forward to Malaysia. I had a chance to meet up with the legendary Michael Yeh. Possibly one of the very few surviving bug collectors who has been collecting for more than 40 yrs. But he is now mainly collecting only butterfly and some odd tiny bugs. He was kind to let me and my son stayed at his place in Ipoh for couple of day too. THe first place we went was the low land limestone area, i was wondering at first if we could find any bugs at those place......
The limestone hill
As soon as we reached the place, there were butterflies everywhere!!
My son get ready for the hunt
So am I...
This is Mr. Yeh
Vegetation around the area
Me starting to beat the bush with the long stick with butterfly net
almost instantly I caught a mantis nymph (it is on my finger tip... might need to zoom in to see the mantis)
The limestone hill
As soon as we reached the place, there were butterflies everywhere!!
My son get ready for the hunt
So am I...
This is Mr. Yeh
Vegetation around the area
Me starting to beat the bush with the long stick with butterfly net
almost instantly I caught a mantis nymph (it is on my finger tip... might need to zoom in to see the mantis)
Collected some oothecae which might be of the Tropidomantis sp. (two of the oothecae hatched later.... bummer)
Lady bugs are plenty too
blue metallic color butterfly Michael said only found near limestone moutain.
Spotted a stick insect
zooming in
Odontomantis nymph!
Checking out more places to hunt.
Mr. Yeh was checking out mainly tree hoppers while i am mainly after mantis. I released all the nymph collected in that area because i don't have the food to support them so it was like the catch and release thing, still lot of fun! I lost some pics from this collecting ground but i should dig up more pics later on.... stay tune.
Lady bugs are plenty too
blue metallic color butterfly Michael said only found near limestone moutain.
Spotted a stick insect
zooming in
Odontomantis nymph!
Checking out more places to hunt.
Mr. Yeh was checking out mainly tree hoppers while i am mainly after mantis. I released all the nymph collected in that area because i don't have the food to support them so it was like the catch and release thing, still lot of fun! I lost some pics from this collecting ground but i should dig up more pics later on.... stay tune.
revmdn
Well-known member
So cool. Mr. Yeh has one serious net.
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Haha, Mr. Yeh's net is like so pro!
[email protected]
Well-known member
[SIZE=14pt]Hey cool pics Yen[/SIZE]
Damn lost some really nice pics on the collecting trip in Malaysia. Here are some photos that "survived".......
A huge and cool looking katydid
Some kind of treehopper Mr. Yeh caught. He managed to sell them all to Europe as dead specimen the next day :blink:
Kenneth caught an odd looking thing which looked like a ball of lint, but the insect is pretty active... hard to believe something which appear so artificial could be a living thing. that is sure the most favorite bug for Kenny during this collecting trip!
We also saw a good size poisonous snake, appear to be some kind of pit viper.
Not all snake survive the road
There are many small mantis species but i couldn't find an adult bummer. I think the collecting method doesn't work for catching one. Another pic of a small nymph collected.
I caught a small fly and fed it to the odontomantis spotted earlier... but let the mantis go later i think it has much better chance surviving in the wild than me keeping it in the container for the next 3 weeks.
One of the nymph hatched from the wild collected ooth, they look really cool i released some of them and kept only a few. 3 made it to the USA.
That's about all for the lowland hunt in Ipoh the rest of my photos got burnt bummer Next we went to Cameron highland, Mr. Yeh didn't follow us but suggested the hunting ground at 1000-2000 ft elevation, so Kenneth and I decided to do the hunt and then go on to the peak (about 5000+ ft) for a day or two vacation. Unfortunately, i lost some pics on the CH foothill hunt too......
A huge and cool looking katydid
Some kind of treehopper Mr. Yeh caught. He managed to sell them all to Europe as dead specimen the next day :blink:
Kenneth caught an odd looking thing which looked like a ball of lint, but the insect is pretty active... hard to believe something which appear so artificial could be a living thing. that is sure the most favorite bug for Kenny during this collecting trip!
We also saw a good size poisonous snake, appear to be some kind of pit viper.
Not all snake survive the road
There are many small mantis species but i couldn't find an adult bummer. I think the collecting method doesn't work for catching one. Another pic of a small nymph collected.
I caught a small fly and fed it to the odontomantis spotted earlier... but let the mantis go later i think it has much better chance surviving in the wild than me keeping it in the container for the next 3 weeks.
One of the nymph hatched from the wild collected ooth, they look really cool i released some of them and kept only a few. 3 made it to the USA.
That's about all for the lowland hunt in Ipoh the rest of my photos got burnt bummer
Next we went to Cameron highland, Mr. Yeh didn't follow us but suggested the hunting ground at 1000-2000 ft elevation, so Kenneth and I decided to do the hunt and then go on to the peak (about 5000+ ft) for a day or two vacation. Unfortunately, i lost some pics on the CH foothill hunt too......
It sure is Rick, my son was thinking to keep it but i have no idea how to care for them so we let the cool bug go. this bug also has a cool way of escaping, it was kicking out part of its "lint" while running away, which reveals the head and part of abdomen on the other pic.
oh one more cool insect i found on my photo storage... this grasshopper moved like a wasp and look like one too at a distance, very interesting.
There are many insects at that area which look out of the world. Insects trying to imitate other poisonous or dangerous bugs too. I also spotted a small mantis nymph which look like a stick (could be of Ambivia sp) and so many varitey of butterflies too, shamely those photos didn't survive
Mr Yeh explained Ipoh is surrounded by mountains of limestone not found in any other places in West Malaysia, and also separated it from outside of Ipoh so the bugs are kind of different.
ismart
Well-known member
Awsome pics yen! Keep em coming.
Very nice pics, Yen! Thank you for sharing them with us! Hmmm... I really wonder what that interesting little lint-like bug was! I also really liked the white moth with the upturned end of the wings; and that wasp-like grasshopper is GREAT!!
Hmmm... I really wonder what that interesting little lint-like bug was! I also really liked the white moth with the upturned end of the wings; and that wasp-like grasshopper is GREAT!! PhilinYuma
Well-known member
Really great pix, Yen. I remember seeing what looked a lot like a miniature version of your lint bug feeding on tomato plants (squish!) and Googled <lint mealy bug> I lucked out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/12023825@N04/2847244833/
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