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phaethon.bsky.social
Happy #SerpentSunday from #BangkokSafari
October 27, 2024 at 7:49 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Wondering how I got close enough to a notoriously skittish house gecko? Like this:
#BangkokSafari
#JingjokWhisperer
April 11, 2025 at 7:51 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
"En Famille"
The Tokay (/Gekko gecko/) colony has grown to at least 8 individuals.
#Thailand
#BangkokSafari
November 6, 2024 at 8:04 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Potter or Mason Wasp (/Delta pyriforme/) tried to build a nest in a pair of my shorts, hanging near the balcony door.
#BangkokSafari
A brown wasp with yellow and black markings hovers with one foot maintaining a tentative hold on a piece of khaki cloth. This species has a long narrow petiole accounting for about a quarter of the total body length connecting the thorax and abdomen. In the two forelegs she is grasping a ball of mud with which to start building a nest that will be stocked with paralyzed prey and a single egg.
October 30, 2024 at 9:43 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
Woah!
#ThatEscalatedRapidly
October 5, 2023 at 8:35 AM
phaethon.bsky.social
Reptile mites (prob. /geckobia/ sp,) on the rear left foot of /Hemidactylus frenatus/.
#BangkokSafari (2016-02-11)
September 24, 2023 at 11:23 AM
phaethon.bsky.social
"Captain's Log"
Common Sun Skink (/Eutropis multifasciata/)
#BangkokSafari
November 23, 2024 at 10:53 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Here's a Gold Dust Weevil (/Hypomeces pulviger/) to go with it.

Now, that just leaves the question: Which one is the lesser of two weevils..?
#BangkokSafari
#Thailand
November 9, 2024 at 7:30 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
"And insect shall speak peace unto reptile"
October 5, 2023 at 8:34 AM
phaethon.bsky.social
I'll raise you both the reptile mites (prob. /geckobia/ sp,) on the rear left foot of /Hemidactylus frenatus/.
#BangkokSafari
April 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Lappet Moth (/Trabala vishnou/) laying a string of eggs.
#BangkokSafari
#Thailand
#MondayMoth
A bright 'danger-yellow' moth with subtle dark markings is climbing up a long narrow leaf with it wings folded down either side to the leaf. Behind the moth, adhering to the edge of the leaf is a string of small newly-laid spherical eggs with hairs that act as irritants to deter predators while they develop.
October 29, 2024 at 5:44 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
Cup Moth Caterpillar (/Thosea/ sp., Limacodidae) curls into a ball to form a hard, spherical chrysalis
October 4, 2023 at 5:58 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
"The Siphonaptera"
Three /Culex/ mosquitoes feast on the head of a Tokay (/Gekko gecko/).
#BangkokSafari
#Thailand
Close-up shot of the head of a Tokay Gecko with three mosquitoes feeding on the reactively thin skin around the eyes.
September 22, 2023 at 4:19 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
"The Siphonaptera"
Three /Culex/ mosquitoes feast on the head of a Tokay (/Gekko gecko/).
#BangkokSafari
#Thailand
Close-up of the head, in semi-profile, of a Tokay Gecko - a large lizard, this one probably 25cn nose to tip of the tail. The scales are predominantly blue-grey in this specimen with blotches of rusty orange. The visible eye is large with the vertical-slit pupil still dilated in the middle of a golden iris. Between the eyes, where the scales are small and thin, three female /culex/ mosquitoes feed with their heads down and long rear legs raised into the air in the typical culex feeding posture. Their abdomens are beginning to swell with dark reptilian blood.
October 31, 2024 at 8:26 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Wondering how I got close enough to a notoriously skittish house gecko? Like this:
#BangkokSafari
#JingjokWhisperer
(2016-02-11)
September 24, 2023 at 11:25 AM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
"And Insect shall speak peace unto lizard..."
Sitting on a branch together, a juvenile Tokay gecko is face to face with an Asian field cricket about 15mm apart.
November 11, 2024 at 9:02 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Javan Pond Heron (Ardeola speciosa) in breeding plumage (very early, photo taken in February, Lumpini Park)
#BangkokSafari
Heron, a wading bird, with white wings, a long pointed yellow bill with a black tip, yellow eyes and legs. Its overall colour is orange, dark slate grey and white. It is standing on the blue painted concrete edge of an artificial pond with defocussed blue water and green water plant stock in the background.
November 24, 2024 at 12:20 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) in flight.
A swallow in flight, black body, brown wings extended, turns into the camera, its red face and black eyes staring directly into the lens, against a defocussed background of banana trees.
November 13, 2024 at 9:33 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
"The Temptation of Tokay" #BangkokSafari #Bangkok #Thailand
One of a family of Tokay Gecko cranes his head out from between some boxes to inspect some dead field crickets left in a yellow dish for them to find.
September 22, 2023 at 4:12 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
"Jesus Ant"
I tried to constrain some pharaoh ants (/Monomorium pharaonis/) to photograph them by placing them on a piece of foam floating on water.
That's when I discovered they can walk on water...
#BangkokSafari
Taking advantage of surface tension a small red-brown ant takes tentative steps onto the water surrounding a floating island of white packing foam.
November 16, 2024 at 3:13 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
"The queen of Lumpini Park"
Water Monitor (/Varanus salvator/)
A large (~2m) adult female water monitor lizard sits on her favourite nesting tree, partly hewn leaving a partial stump in which she can lay her eggs. The skin is richly textured with fragmented dark and yellow bands and mottling which gives it it's Thai name ตัวเงินตัวทอง or silver-body-gold-body.
November 11, 2024 at 9:35 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
"Dining on the fly"
Median Striped Mantis (/Tropidomantis tenera/) enjoys a snack.
A bright green Mantis, up-close and head-on, tears a fly apart gripping the two halves in translucent barbed arms. Her eyes are yellow with crimson lateral spots and, thanks to the optical properties of those ommatidia aligned with the camera, she appears to be looking directly into the camera.
November 22, 2024 at 9:36 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
#BangkokSafari
"These are mine, get your own..."
A Weaver ant (/Oecophylla smaragdina/) cuddles her pet honeydew-producing leaf hoppers protectively.
A reddy-brown coloured slender ant tends to two adult leaf-hoppers with orange wide-spaced eyes and spikey protuberances on the top of the thorax that resemble horns, giving them a bovine appearance. The ants protect the leaf-hoppers and are rewarded with the sugar-rich honeydew that they produce.
November 22, 2024 at 9:54 PM
phaethon.bsky.social
Sometimes a little help from the make-up department is needed pre-shoot. Removing some vestiges of a recent moult.
#BangkokSafari
[That's a wild Garden Fence Lizard BTW, being relocated from a building site, not domesticated. Call me the lizard whisperer]
Close-up of the head and shoulders of a lizard as it rests patiently on a branch while a pair of forceps gently removes some flakes of dead skin from around the mouth
November 11, 2024 at 7:46 AM
phaethon.bsky.social
"The Bird and the Bees" - enjoy a snack put outside a restaurant to appease the spirits.
#BangkokSafari
In Thailand it is customary to put food offerings outside a business to appease the spirits and the local wildlife can dine out for free. On a neatly trimmed hedge surrounding a tree trunk, a plate has been placed with a glass of water and two finger-bowls on it. On the left it looks like the bowl contains fried chicken with chili sauce and rice. On the right is probably something sweet because it is covered with Asian honey bees. The bees are ignoring the chicken and rice, but an appreciative zebra dove is tucking in to that.
November 6, 2024 at 7:24 PM