Dwarf Honey Bee: 1. Colony; 2. What happens when it rains?”. Less than a week after the colony of Dwarf Honey Bee (Apis andreniformis) colony was detected on a branch of the Golden Penda (Xanthostemon chrysanthus) tree LINK, the bees … Continued
Dwarf Honey Bee: 1. Colony The Dwarf Honey Bee (Apis andreniformis) builds its colony in the open, usually round a twig in a bush or small tree. In this instance the tree was a roadside Golden Penda (Xanthostemon chrysanthus) – … Continued
In late September 2008, my helper Estela Acierto pointed out a colony of bees gathering around a branch of the Golden Penda tree (Xanthostemon chrysanthus) fronting my house. The colony of bees was so well camouflaged that it took me … Continued
The Singapore or Straits Rhododendron (Melastona malabathricum) is a common weedy shrub that is found all over Singapore. The fruits are sought after by at least 8 species of birds LINK. The seeds are tiny and numerous and pass off … Continued
Bee-eaters are so-named because they specialise in catching bees. In addition to bees, they also take carpenter bees, wasps, hornets… not to mention dragonflies, cicadas, beetles, ants, crickets, termites, butterflies, etc. Of these insects, bees, wasps and hornets are the … Continued
My Calabash Tree (Crescentia cujete) has been flowering for months now LINK. A few young fruits were eventually located. Obviously there was pollination. As the flowers open in the late evening the pollinators could be either moths or bats. The … Continued
It was a hot afternoon and the flowers of my Bush Grape (Cayratia mollissima) were covered with Common Honey Bees (Apis cerana). They were mainly collecting nectar from the flowers, as seen from their empty pollen baskets. An earlier post … Continued
The Ornamental Banana (Musa ornate) is a dwarf banana plant with attractive pink flowers (above). Flowers are unisexual. Male and female flowers are packed between layers of bracts in the same compact inflorescence. As the first few bracts unfold, the … Continued
I cane across a small swarm of Stingless Bees (Trigona sp.) harvesting resin from the stem of a legume tree by a roadside one sunny afternoon. Unfortunately the tree was almost leafless and there were no signs of flowers and/or … Continued
C Anon was stationary at a traffic light on Empress Road, Singapore one day when he took this photograph of a Lesser Banded Hornet (Vespa affinis) in the process of laying eggs inside a caterpillar (below). The hornet and the … Continued
