Friday, July 17, 2020

A New Native Teneb for Me!

I've been living here in southwest Idaho for several years now, and I'd like to think I've become quite familiar with the Tenebrionid species in the immediate area, yet it seems each year I keep finding new ones! This time it's not just a new species, but a completely new genus for me, Conibius! 😁 I found this little beauty a few days ago out in the field, near an old abandoned animal pen of some sort, which has long been torn down and overgrown, with ground squirrel burrows and ant colonies all around it, and an abundance of rotten grain inside, (which Tenebrio molitor and T.obscura have both taken advantage of).

I believe this one is Conibius seriatus, which according to the 2018 Catalogue of Tenebrionidae of North America, has the northernmost range of any of the US Conibius, being found as far north as Oregon. However, I can't find any records of this species being collected from Idaho as far as I know, so this may be the first ID record for Conibius!

I've got my single individual set up in a well ventilated 2 oz deli cup, with over a cm of coconut fiber as the substrate, which I'll keep mostly dry with a small moist area. I'll offer chick feed for food, and I've given it a small piece of eggcrate for a hide. With any luck this one will be a gravid female, but I'll keep looking for more in the meantime! (talk about looking for a needle in a haystack, these things are only like 4 mm long, and I believe this genus is naturally more secretive than the other micro-Tenebs I'm used to collecting).

Anyways, here are some pictures of this little treasure:







The flash kinda dulled the colors a bit, in person this individual has the same kind of color scheme as the local Apsena, bluish black elytra, with the rest of the body and limbs being a dull red. A pretty color scheme for such a small beetle, I really hope these are as easy to breed as the Apsena are! 😅

Anyways, that's gonna have to do it for this post, thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
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3 comments:

  1. coniontisesJuly 22, 2020 at 11:32 PM

    Congrats, I was wondering when you'd get you hands on the stereotypical rare thingys I @ you on iNat all the time. I half expect to see you w Trogloderus and Apocrypha in a few years.

    Speaking of which, in the mood for another violent teneb ID binge?

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    Replies
    1. Invertebrate DudeJuly 23, 2020 at 2:39 PM

      Thanks, found another individual yesterday, really hoping to get them breeding! 😁 Believe it or not I've seen Trogloderus here in ID before, hoping to find some again this year!

      Sure, why not! 😄

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    2. Invertebrate DudeJuly 24, 2020 at 12:52 AM

      Just found over half a dozen of these guys today, they appear to be associated with ant nests... Hopefully they're not gonna be a pain to get breeding, I've not had the best luck with breeding ant dwelling micro Tenebs in the past, (like Araeoschizus).

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