Untold Contemplation

This week’s challenge is Macro. One night in train station on the way home, I spotted an insect, which I believe Leptocorisa oratorius, or commonly known as slender rice bugs. Both the adults and nymphs feed on grains at the milking stage. They are a serious pest of rice and can reduce yield by as much as 30%. This kind of insect is easily found in Australia, Bhutan, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia (including New Guinea), Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, and Vietnam. The pungent odor of the rice bug signifies its presence. Its slender and elongated body can identify the insect. When disturbed, the nymphs drop to the lower part of the plants and the adults fly within a short distance. In Bahasa Indonesia, we call the insect as Walang Sangit, that comes from Javanese. Walang means Belalang in Bahasa, grasshopper in English. Sangit means a disturbing odor.

Now, let’s see the text behind the bugs. The text mentions a law that control air pollutant. In this case, to remind smoker to not smoke in the train station area. But should we capture the bug as well since its odor is also a kind of air pollutant? Well, a natural one 😀