The annotated budak

Crabby night at Big Sister's Island

Melancholy is the night, but the full moon blazes on this morn of enlightenment, rivalling the brazen beacons that line the shores of the city. Earlier, Godzilla rawred over our breakfast of wanton mee and stimulant beverages by Syed Alwi Road. Leaving the insomnia of Little India, we sped to the pier through the underused park that will in the future offer a green repose from the rapacity of roulette tables. By starlight we landed at the jetty and plodded to the beach hut amidst the fragrance of flowering tembusus, while evading the gang-raping natives of the island.

  mosaic crab front 

In the darkness, the evading tide reveals more life than the blinding light of day, when creatures shy and skittish retreat to the depths of a bed of sand or the deeper nooks of coralline crevices. Typically found wedged in tight corners by day, red egg crabs were out in force, foraging at leisure in the security of their protective toxins. We also came across their cousin, the mosaic crab, which bears the ominous reputation of being the most toxic crab known. The danger of regarding any one crab as equal to the other (as well as failure to recognise nature's red flags) is most aptly illustrated with the not-uncommon incident of fatalities across East Asia following the capture and consumption of this species.

  snapping shrimp snapping 

By torchlight, snapping shrimp are found away from their burrows in search of hidden prey. With its enlarged claw that features a rounded tooth on one movable 'finger' that fits into a depression on the other (fixed) finger, the shrimp generates powerful 'snaps' that stun prey acoustically as well as physically, via the sudden jet of water produced by the action.  The claw action of some species is able to penetrate coral or even balsaltic rock. This individual was inserting its claw into a hole and snapping away, probably to knock out some other creature within. According to Arthur Anker, the world's leading authority in Alpheids, there are more than 550 species of snapping shrimps worldside. Some tiny species live in ant-like colonies within the chambers of sponges, and there are even a few freshwater species. Their cacophony of clicks is evident to anyone visiting the Southern Islands, where countless shrimp issue regular warnings to each other from their tunnels. In mangroves, some species dwell in the hills of mud lobsters and even in our remnant swamps, new species have been found. 

  portunid 

According to Joe, the animal above is Grapsus albolineatus, which seems reasonable given the white lines on its carapace. This is a shore crab (Grapsidae) that spends much time out of water on littoral rocks in search of algae and seaweed. The genus Grapsus also bears the nick Sally-Lightfoot crabs for their agility on slippery surfaces. A relative, the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis), has earned the dubious status of globe-trotter, invading North American and European shores via ballast water from the Far East. In the water, swimming crabs (Portunidae) are ubiquitous, hunting pelagic prey. These crabs have their final pair of legs transformed into paddles that propel them in pursuit of fish and shrimp. The two most well-known representatives of the family are the mud crabs in the genus Scylla and Portunus pelagicus, the edible flower crab, but dozens of species in other genera are found in local and regional waters. For some reason, many Porturnids bear mythological monikers. Scylla is a ravenous six-headed sea monster, while Charybdis is a whirlpool-causing former naird. Portunus/Portunes himself is the Roman god of the ports. When disturbed, swimming crabs typically brandish their claws in a pose that looks more aggressive than defensive. Even tiny ones an inch long have a nasty pinch, so my duck takes care to stay beyond the range of their pretty pinchers. This bird is no fan of lovebites...

  skink

By the road he surely crept
In pursuit of creatures lowly kept
But near the time of setting sun
Came droves of apes in search of fun

With bread and butter they dished their favour
With crinkled bags of fruit and fritter
Packs and peels are thrown asunder
A hit parade of people litter.

  monkeys

The thrill of tasting homemade burgers
Breeds a band of longtailed burglars
What foul instincts are raised in error
That blind kindness turns to terror.

So man and monkey beg for mercy
For handouts hold a fate too gory
Pray feed no more and stop to think
Lest this skink kick up a stink!

On widows and hump-backs

  spider odd abdomen 
  Originally uploaded by budak

Two creatures front the rogues' gallery of spiders that haunt our dreams and skulk in the darkest recesses of our primerval fears. They each represent the divergent strategies that the order Araneida have adopted for capturing prey: active hunting and patient waiting. The citizens of a town in ancient Italy believed that a vigorous bout of dancing would whirl to death the venom of the tarantula. In truth, the large, hairy spiders that prowl on the ground or stalk from hidden holes appear formidable but are rarely fatal.

More lethal are members of the tribe that weaves webs and relies on fast-acting toxins to subdue dangerous prey such as bees and wasps. Perhaps the most dreaded spider of all is the black widow (Latrodectus mactans), whose bite is virtually painless. But after 10 minutes, the victim crumples under severe muscle cramps and the tactile agony of facies latrodectismi, with a sweat-drenched face, swollen eyelids, inflammed lips and morbid psychotropic visions. Death occurs if the venom, a potent neurotoxin, reaches the muscles of the thorax. For all its deserved reputation as a silent killer, the black widow is in reality less of a man-eater than many other spiders, more often than not neglecting to have her mate for dessert after sex.

  spider odd 
  Originally uploaded by budak

Closer to home, the Australian red-back spider (Latrodectus hasselti) enjoys a similar claim to notoriety. Like her North American cousin, the red-back is bloated in black with a screaming streak of scarlet. Both ladies have a penchant for lurking in the overlooked corners of domesticity. Outhouses are known to be a common spot for scary encounters. But the dame from down under more rightly deserves the epithet bestowed upon her neotropical relation, as male red-backs perform a curious somersault during sex that places their abdomen right at the jaws of their mate, a sacrifice that persuades the female to prolong the pleasure of paired appetites.

The black widow and red-back are both placed in the family Theriididae, known innocuously as the comb-footed spiders. This family is distinguished by a 'comb' of serrated bristles on the final segment of the fourth pair of legs, which is used to guide the extruded stream of fresh threads during the wrapping of prey. At least 28 species of theriidids are known from Singapore, but fortunately Latrodectus is absent, at least til the day a crate of poorly inspected fruit arrives on our shores with a thousand-strong brood. Best known though of the family are the tiny Argyrodes spiders that live as kleptoparasites on the giant webs of Nephila. In scale, they appear like mites before their distant cousin who barely notices the activity of these red and silver freeloaders. Less conspicuous are the hump-backed comb-footers in the genus Chrysso, which have blade-like hairs on the tip of their abdomen. The specimen I found is known as the golden comb-footed spider, and little information seems available about its ecology other than its construction of a tangled three-dimensional web and glimpses of its family life, whereby some member of the genus practice maternal care of juveniles. Beyond this is a realm of unknown unknowns that defy investigation and shy away from the meddling minds of men who seek but a modicum of mental satisfaction before the webs come unwound under the shredding blades of mowers.

Spider on stabilimentum

  spider white 
  Originally uploaded by budak

There are orb webs and there are orb webs. Many spiders, having spun their death traps, construct a lacey ring of zigzags or an X-shape around the centre of the orb using thicker strands of webbing. Despite the name, the pattern is thought to have little role in stabilising the already taut and tightly-woven web. Arachnologist Rainer F. Foelix regards stabilimenta as camouflage tools, as they are made only by species that sit in the hub of their webs. The little orbweavers known as Cyclosa attach bits of debris and dried prey to their stabilimenta to raise the camo-quotient, while the spider huddles up in the midst of the mess pretending to be a piece of dirt. The coastal arachnids known as Argiope or St. Andrew's Cross spiders have X-shaped stabilimenta that are believed to serve as red light signals to prevent birds from crashing into the web. The spiders themselves hold their legs in pairs in alignment with the cross.

  spider red little 
  Originally uploaded by budak

The same leg position is adopted by the little white spider in the picture above, which had built a tiny orb web on the underside of a broad leaf (on the upper half of the leaf dwelt a little red spider with an exposed web). It's not listed in Joseph Koh's guidebook but I suspect it's a a pale and ghostly cousin of the larger Argiope spiders. Living as it does in the shade, the stabilimentum probably plays no role in offering sunscreen protection or luring flying insects. Some researchers suspect that in fact, the device is merely the result of surplus silk that the spider is compelled to extrude and dump in its immediate vicinity; a case of one thread too many. The scarlet spider on the flip side of the leaf has prominent paldipalps and sits in a whisp of a web built across the centre of the blade. It probably catches insects that happen to land on what appears to be a safe platform. How it eludes the attention of both prey and predators is uncertain though, as the animal is not shy and its bright coat stands out smartly against its emerald home.

Post-coital pillow talk?

A pair of Tylorida ventralis spiders from the family Tetragnathidae or big-jawed spiders. This species of orb-web spinners is rather usual for arachnids in that the females, unlike most spiderwomen, do not see their mates as a post-copulatory snack and actually initiate love-making! Resting on the underside of a sprig of sedge, this lounging couple is probably taking a breather from an all night bout of humping before a new session of web porn, or rather the unsatisfying-sounding act of placing one's spermatozoa into the palp before inserting the latter into the lady's cavity. Maybe that explains why MJ is such a sourpuss... 

Assassins in the undergrowth

  unknown insect 
  Originally uploaded by budak

I need to go bashing into the forest proper more often. The insects and spiders that dwell in the open and on the fringes of the woods are wonderful for sure, but there are whole new worlds in the deep and damp layers under the canopy, where the sun shines in diffused columns that form a shifting column of light on the forest floor. The creatures are shyer (some like this mantis lurk within the leaf litter) and their structural defences more vigorous: the petioles of shade-loving palms are laced with flesh ripping spines and battalions of biting ants patrol every available pathway. Even lacewing larvae and thrips, no bigger than a coma, plunge their jaws into the skin with palpable pain.

  assassin bug back 
  Originally uploaded by budak

Yet in these dark corners are crawlers and creepers that defy instant classification and may well be absent from all but the most obscure journals. Every turn of the head and clumsy sidestep of a thorny sapling sends legions of legs into hidden shelters. This bristly insect pictured above right is one such example. It appeared as a mere protrusion of bark on the side of a trunk untouched by day and gave itself away only by a slight wave of its antennae. After enduring a sudden strike of illumination, it crept further down into unreachable crevices. What is it ferrying on its back? A brood of nymphs or a more macabre burden of fainted formicids? What dramas of life and death have these bright eyes seen in the chamber of secrets that lie in every tree and die with its felling?

  assassin bug skinny 
  Originally uploaded by budak

  assassin bug green 
  Originally uploaded by budak

Update: the good folks at the Nature Photographic Society forum set me going on the right trail and it looks like the beast is in fact a kind of assassin bug that specialises in ants. After piercing and sucking dry its prey, it impales the corpses on the abdominal bristles to form a ghastly coat of arms. With some 6,000-7,000 species, the family Reduviidae is a formidable group of predators that appear superficially like other plant-sucking bugs. However, a prominently long and segmented rostrum marks their identity as some of the insect world's nastier killers. Enzymatic juices paralyse and liquefy prey animals before the bug sips a meal of beetlejuice. The saliva of some innocuous-looking species is toxic enough to cause temporary blindness. In South America, an assassin bug known as the 'vinchuca' creeps into beds at night and spreads the heart-stopping Chagas' disease via its faeces.

  assassin bug head 
  Originally uploaded by budak

  assassin bug side 
  Originally uploaded by budak

While some Reduviids look like harmless squash bugs, others are lean, mean prowlers, like this skinny trio I found in the forest near Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. The little green guy and fellow with orange-and-white stripes look pretty unoffensive to me, but the darker bug seems well able to inflict a horrid poke in my duck with its monster of a rostrum. With such arsenal, one wonders why it needs a false head on its abdomen. But no creature, not even the stealthiest of stalkers, is beyond the grasp of some foe with the specialisation and skill to turn the hunter into ham, and some wasp or fly could well be the nemesis of this leggy leafhugger.