Mating, Dating and Dead Moths

This is a much delayed posting because I had problems getting the ID. I'm back at the forest opposite Ngee Ann Poly again (last week) but this time at night, invited by Daniel as he wants to go frogging. It turned out to be much better than a day trip with lots of little creatures the most common being dragonflies and moths. But definitely not for those who detest flying insects since they flew pretty haphazardly, some onto our faces and even nostrils!

Its night-time with noone around. The perfect place to date.


Creatonotos gangis
Noctuidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini

I was ecstatic to finally see a moth extending its scent organs. These organs can be eversible like in this case and serves to emit pheromones. The moth on top should be a male since it is typical for the male to extend and release its love mist in close proximity to the female while the latter secrete them in long range.

However, it is strange as some journals describe this species having coremata (name for this type of organ) longer than its body size. But it might be because the male is in the process of deflating the organ.


After a while, the coremata was completely retracted and they might be getting ready to mate. But we did not stay behind to watch it. Anyway, it is easy to see why they are called Tiger Moths from their marked abdomens.


Creatonotos transiens
Noctuidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini

Seems like love is in the air and we managed to find a few other pairs in the process of mating. Here was another closely related Tiger Moth. Even though they were in the spotlight from my flashing camera, their wings managed to cover up any embarrassing shots.


Unfortunately, danger was lurking in the dark maze of grassland. Daniel actually spotted a Lynx Spider (Oxyopes sp.) which had captured the same species of moth. Just like the jumping spiders, these lynx spiders are active hunters that do not ambush using a web.


But of course, many species do that and this unknown diamond backside spider caught one in its web. A poor dragonfly also accidentally got trapped onto it soon after.

For those who are curious since this should be a frogging trip, we did see some frogs but I may not put them up unless I can find all their IDs. :)

Thanks to Ryan for his IDs.

Horseshoe Crabs and Endotoxins (I)

I had often told participants about horseshoe crab's blood and their importance in the medical industry through their detection of bacteria endotoxins. Here is some more indepth information and I will spit this topic into three separate postings for an easier read. However, this should still be a pretty dry posting for many but well, this is my blog and you can choose whether to read it or not so here goes:

Endotoxins are basically lipopolysaccrides (LPS); a sugar-lipid compound embedded on the outer cell walls of gram-negative bacteria. That is why they are termed as "endo", which means inside (in this case, on the cell). These bacteria are so called and classified due to differences in their cell wall based on gram staining.

These LPS serves as a shield to impede antibodies and phagocytes as well as controlling release of factors like interlukins and tumour necrosis factors (no idea what that means too, lol). But all the toxicity actually stemmed from the lipid component; known as lipid A. However, this toxin is only pronounced when released, since it is embedded within the cell wall. This happens when the cells are dividing, or that the bacteria burst due to various reasons, like for example, being killed by white blood cells.

Hence, it is important to scan drugs and other products that will come into contact with blood for these toxins. It doesn't help that these compounds cannot be denatured by heat either. Because of this, rabbits were used as test subjects last time. Obviously, it is not a very accurate procedure to go about yielding many false positive and negative results. Not to mention the guilt-ridden task to rear colonies of cute furry rabbits just to make them sick.

Here is when the horseshoe crab's blood comes into play... check out my next posting, probably by tomorrow.

Check out my other postings in this series:
Part II: Horseshoe crabs and LAL
Part III: Horseshoe crabs and Factor C (to be updated)

Venomous Lizards

I got a first whiff of this news from RY after one of the guiding sessions at Raffles Museum. After seeing another similar news in yahoo yesterday, I was prompted to do some research on this topic since I am very free these days too.

Previously, only the Gila Monster and Bearded Lizard are the only species of lizards that possess venom. However, an article in Nature (2005) proved otherwise. Apparently, they found out that two additional lineages of lizards produce venom; the monitor lizards and iguanas. Interestingly, phylogenetic mapping of these toxins revealed that all these reptiles, including snakes, probably evolved from the same venomous ancestor.

An even more recent publication in PNAS a month back blasted the popular belief that Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) possess harmful toxic bacteria in their mouths that aid prey capture. In fact, none of these pathogens have been recorded in wild caught individuals. Instead, from a terminally ill Dragon in the Singapore Zoological Gardens, they discovered that they possess venom too! This toxin include anticoagulants and shock inducing proteins.


Malayan Water Monitor (Varanus salvator)

Even though our three species of monitors in Singapore; Clouded Monitor (Varanus bengalensis), the common Malayan Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) and the recently rediscovered Dumeril's monitor (Varanus dumerilii), have not been documented to have venom yet to the best of my knowledge; who knows they might do. But still, in contrast with the increasingly aggessive Komodo Dragons over at Indonesia, our monitors are still rather shy to humans and would not attack us unless provoked. Thus, there is no need for any alarm.