Tiny Tunneling Tenebs...

One year ago, when my family moved into our new house, I noticed that there were a lot of small inverts getting in, most of which were simply attracted to our lights. I noticed several individuals of a neat Tenebrionid species I'd only seen once or twice before, but since I was leaving the hobby at the time, I of course didn't collect any... Since then I've been kicking myself for that decision, but now that it's Fall again, it looks like they've become active in my area and are once again flying to lights.

I've already caught one adult, and hope to find some more, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, the very tiny, but very unique, Lepidocnemeplatia sericea! 😁

It's a very weird Teneb, one that's heavily adapted to a life underground, specifically in very fine, loose soil/sand. They appear to be pretty uncommon here, though maybe I have overlooked them, they are quite tiny little things after all... In any case, I would love to attempt breeding these little cuties, as it is yet another US Teneb with little to no life cycle documentation, (that I know of). If you'd like to see clearer pics of this species, look no further than bugguide, they are only 2-3 mm long and hard to pick up on my camera unfortunately.

Right now I have mine housed in a 2 oz deli cup with about a CM of fine coconut fiber, with a couple larger chunks and a dead leaf bit mixed in. I'm keeping one small area moist, and the rest bone dry. The cup has decent ventilation, and I'll be offering chick feed up as food. Hopefully I can breed these little cuties, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on them! 😄

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, hope you guys enjoyed, thanks for reading, I'll see you all next time! 😉