Somehow these things survived in this Ziplock bag full of only rotten wood, in my poorly insulated garage for THREE YEARS!!! That's three hot summers, three freezing winters, conditions I wouldn't think anything except for maybe mites could survive in! That's what I call a hardy species!
They are Alleculinae larvae for sure, and since the wood they were collected in came from the same tree and was collected at the same time as my old Hymenorus sp culture, I'm guessing they are the same species. I will be moving them to a proper container soon with more rotten wood, which I will still keep in the garage during the winter, since the cold may be needed for proper development. Once springtime comes I will bring them indoors, I'm guessing several adults will emerge at around that time.
It was quite a pleasant surprise, I'm glad to be culturing this species once again! Unfortunately, this all means that I have less usable rotten wood than I thought, so I may need to get more...
Upon request, I'm giving you guys an update on my Edrotes ventricosus! 🙂 So far, nothing has changed, all of my adults are still alive, and they seem to be only eating chick feed. I haven't gotten any eggs from them yet, whether because my setup is wrong, or because they only lay eggs early in the year, I have no clue. No one has successfully bred this species before, so I have no idea what is needed to get females to oviposit.
A friend of mine is working with this species right now, and will be trying to feed them live wild oat grass, (Avena fatua), among other native plants that are commonly found in their wild habitat, so maybe he'll be able to breed them successfully, we will see!
Anyway, here are some pictures of my adults:
Will be sure to post an update on these guys if anything changes!
So, it looks like only one of my remaining Eusattus muricatus larvae made it to pupation, the other two died. Now I have two adults in total, and it seems like they are both the same sex, as I have not noticed any mating behavior, nor have I found any eggs in their enclosure. So it seems like I've reached a dead end with this cool little darkling beetles species. 😞
Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of one of the adults today:
Will be sure to post an update on these cuties if anything changes, but I highly doubt I'll be getting any offspring from them.
Many of my Eleodes tribulus larvae have been pupating lately, and my first CB adult just eclosed the other day, it's a male! I find it very satisfying to rear desert Tenebs to adulthood, I'm glad I was able to successfully breed and rear this species, I believe I am the first person to do so! 😊 (Not that these are particularly hard to breed, it's just that there aren't a whole lot of Tenebrionid breeders out there).
Here are a couple pictures of the teneral male:
Hopefully there will be many more adults where this one came from!
Well, that is going to do it for today's post, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉
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