Kyle's Crazy September Package Series Pt. 1/4
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Well, Kyle of Roachcrossing went on a western US collecting trip last month, and apparently grabbed up just about every Tenebrionid he found, and then send a TON of them to me! 😁 Took a while to get them all housed and ID'd, but I did, and my darkling collection is now larger than ever. 😅 He also sent some other misc inverts unrelated to the recent collection trip that I've been wanting to get from him for a while, which I'll cover in the next post, but for the most of this series of posts, I'll be showing off the new darklings I got.
First off, let's start with a pair of Eleodes carbonaria, from Colorado City, AZ. Despite this being a small species of Eleodes, the female has produced some very large eggs, which hopefully won't take long to hatch. 😁
I'm keeping them in a well ventilated setup with coconut fiber substrate, a third of which I'm keeping humid, the rest dry. I'll feed them dog food, and keep them at 75F° or so.
Here are some pictures of the pair:
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| Female |
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| Male |
Hopefully I can breed this species successfully, if so it'll be my second member of the subgenus Melaneleodes I've bred.
Next up, Kyle sent me a single Eleodes longicollis from Animas, NM. I thought it was female at first, since I saw it burrow and then saw very large eggs in it's container... But I had the E.carbonaria in there temporarily, and they for sure lay quite large eggs (as the female carbonaria laid in their own private setup), so I'm not sure whether the eggs in the longicollis enclosure were produced by the longicollis, or the carbonaria... The longicollis mounted and exhibited courtship behavior towards a Stenomorpha that was also in it's setup temporarily, however it never extended any genitalia, and I've seen female Eleodes spp. exhibit this behavior before, so I'm still unsure what sex this longicollis is... 😅 It LOOKS female to me, but could conceivably be male...
I've got it housed in a well ventilated container, with a substrate of coconut fiber. I'm keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and keeping it at 75F°. I'll feed it dog food as the staple diet.
Here are some pics of the confusing individual:
Here's hoping it IS a female, and that it lays eggs for me if so. 😅
Here's another single individual that I'm unsure if it's male or female, an Eleodes cf. extricata, from Hildale, UT. Given the rounded shape, I'm hopeful it's female, and that it'll lay eggs in it's new setup if so. It is missing a tarsus from one of it's front legs, whether this is random damage or a sign of old age, I'm unsure, I hope it's the former though.
As per the usual for Eleodes, I've got it housed in a well ventilated container, with a substrate of coconut fiber. I'm keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and keeping it at 75F°. I'll feed it dog food as the staple diet.
Here are some pictures of it:
Again, here's hoping this one's a female, and that it'll lay eggs if it is. 🤞
Lastly, we'll end this post by discussing a close relative of Eleodes, a group of Trogloderus sp. from Colorado City, AZ. This genus of small but very heavily textured darklings has proven a pain to breed, they seem to require either very fine sand, or very fine clay substrate to oviposit (substrate needs likely depend on the particular species in question). Considering some of these ones came caked in a bit of clay, I'm going with the latter for them.
I've got them housed in a well ventilated container, with a substrate of very fine clay. I'm keeping a corner of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and keeping them at 75F°. I'll feed them dog food as the staple diet. There was also a single Eusattus muricatus collected from the same area that I've tossed in with them, I think it's male so it shouldn't cause any issues.
Here are some pictures of these interesting Tenebs:
Such an unusual genus, adults play dead very well, and are often caked in whatever substrate they inhabit in the wild. Hopefully I can breed these, and FINALLY have success with Trogloderus. 😅
Well, that does it for this post, but we're far from done talking about the new stuff I got off Kyle. 😂 Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
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