Giant Wood Spider

For those of us who think spiders are insects, here is a cute little song, which tells us that spiders and insects are two different things.

Spider or an Insect? - Ron Brown

Is it a spider or an insect?
A spider or an insect
Is it a spider or an insect?
I really want to know. Let’s go!

Insects have six legs
Three body parts - A head, abdomen, thorax.
They all have feelers waving on their heads
Oh those insect facts.


Is it a spider or an insect?
A spider or an insect
Is it a spider or an insect?
I really want to know. Let’s go!

Spiders have eight legs
And two body parts - A head and an abdomen
You won’t see feelers on their heads
Moving and waving.

Is it a spider or an insect?
A spider or an insect
Is it a spider or an insect?
And now I finally know!

These are pictures of a Giant Wood Spider that I found next to our accomodation in Durian Chalet, near Taman Negra National Park, Malaysia. This one is the biggest spider I have ever seen, and spanned close to 8 inches in length. The yellow spots at the joints in its legs, on the underside, are characteristic of these spiders. Its golden web gives it the alternate name Golden Orb Web Spider.

Mudskipper

Is that a fish? Is that a tadpole? No, it is a mudskipper!

I had first watched this animal on one of Jeff Corwin's shows on Animal Planet. I was too excited to see it live by the sea at Kuala Kedah Jetty Point, Malaysia. We were rushing on the walkway towards the ferry to Langkawi that was almost about to leave the port, and did not have time to get down and take a closer look. Time always ticks faster when you need more of it!

A very unique creature - this is a wonderfully adapted amphibian. Its locomotive organs are a pair of pectoral fins that aid both swimming in the water and 'skipping' on the land. Underwater, the mudskippers breathe using their gills, just like a fish. On land, however, they retain water in enlarged gill chambers. These act like a scuba diver's oxygen cylinders, and supply oxygen for respiration while on land. In addition to this, it also is capable of cutaneous breating through its moist skin and lining of its mouth and throat. The eyes are placed on the top of its head, and are retractable into eye sockets. This helps in keeping the eyes moist on land.

The Butterfly Swayamvara

In the Sungai Realu ('Sungai' means 'River' in Malay) region of Taman Negra ('Taman' means 'park/garden' in Malay) was a small wet muddy patch by the road side that was infested with butterflies. With no flowers or other interesting vegetation around, the suddenly dense population of butterfly was surprising. We took a few pictures and continued our walk into the national park. Taking a short trail, about 550 mts long, we got the closest to the dense rain forest, picking up leeches from amidst tall trees and thick shrubs... On our way back to the chalet we had rented in the national park (for 50RM), reluctant to leave the hyperactive bunch of butterflies behind, I decided to spend half an hour more with them. This stay was more rewarding than I had imagined - I got to witness the courtship dance by a couple of Blue Tigers. It started with one of the butterflies instigating the other by continuously flapping its wings while sitting next to it, and then sporadically sending out jets of some liquid (which I learn could have been 'danaidone' from here - General Characteristics of Danaidae). It was a sight to be enjoyed! I now regret not having spent enough time observing them, and leaving the place of action, missing out on possible copulation.

Below is a small piece of video that I caught. Strain your eyes a bit and you will notice the liquid exuding out of the rear end of the fluttering butterfly's abdomen. (When the time reading on the video shows 0.06, 0.33 and 0.30)

Lyssa zampa

A big bunch of insects greeted us as we stepped into the balcony of Nepenthes lodge overlooking the forest and the distant Peaks of Kinabalu. This moth here was the largest of them all, with wings spanning over 20cms.

These creatures are found in montane forests, at an altitude as high as 2600m. Although known to be a commoner at Mt. Kinabalu, this was the only one of its kind that I spotted.

Borneo hosts overs 4500 species of moths, most of which have been covered in an extensive work entitled "Moths of Borneo". Anatomical details of Lyssa zampa can me found here.

The Tropical Pitcher Plants - Nepenthes villosa

Our lodge in the Kinabalu National Park (East Malaysia - Sabah) was named after these carnivorous plants - 'Nepethes'.

The later part of the first day's climb up Mt. Kinabalu showed us a number of these pitchers. These plants are known to be found at an altitude of 9000-10300 feet on Mt. Kinabalu.




The lid on these bulbs are used to attract and lure insects into the pitchers, which itself functions as a trap to drown the prey in the plant's fluid contained within. The lip or the peristome of this pitcher is intricate in the villosa species also attracts the prey, but cheats it of its foot hold.

It is interesting that the pitcher is considered the modified leaf of the plant.