Monday, August 21, 2017

Click Beetles & Roaches

The last adult from my original Pyrophorus noctilucus trio has fully hardened and is now active!! 😁(Actually it emerged from it's pupal cell on the 18th, but it's just taken me this long to get around to posting about it). This last adult was the largest so far, at about 28 mm. Here's hoping I'll be getting some offspring from them soon!

I took photos of the two largest individuals next to my Alaus melanops, here they are:




And I also made a video of all three of my Pyrophorus adults together:


My other two Pyrophorus grubs are still doing well, I am having a few grain mite problems though, for some reason grain mites LOVE their enclosures, but leave my other Elaterid larvae deli cups alone. 😕

Gonna have to lower the amount of chick feed I give them and replace it with mealworms for a while, since there won't be as much leftovers with just mealworms, and the mites seem a little more attracted to old grain products than insect bodies.

My Arenivaga floridensis males are all starting to mature, unfortunately the pre-subadult females don't seem like they will mature in time for these males to mate with them. 😟 Oh well, there are plenty of other smaller nymphs, several of which are likely males, so I'll definitely have pairs matched up at one point.

Here are some pictures of one of the adult males:






The males of this morph look very nice! 😃 Can't wait until the females start maturing too!

My Eurycotis lixa are doing very nicely, and have grown quite a bit since I got them! (they are definitely slower growing than E.improcera though). They have all developed the jet black coloration that is characteristic of this species, they are quite beautiful now! 😍

Here are some pictures of them:






I am excited to see just how big they'll get, they are supposed to be quite a bit larger than E.improcera, which is one of the smallest Eurycotis species in the hobby.

Well, that's going to do it for this post, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all soon! 😉

18 comments:

  1. You should fish your Zenoa out of the dirt while it is still sleeping to wake it up and offer it food. If it eats, bugguide gets valuable data.

    Wow, that "apparently short-lived" beetle has outlived my first Cotinis, and is still alive at the same time as my second one (caught around the start of Aug, much later than your Zenoa eclosion)!

    Tell the roachforum that the injured beetle has died naturally and is being prepared as a dried specimen. This is why I dislike euthanasia by smashing; it would ruin the specimen!

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    1. My Zenoa picea died quite a while ago, I'm pretty sure it only lived 2 weeks or so after it matured. Sorry, I never formally announced it. I never saw it feed unfortunately, it didn't really do all that much in it's short life.

      Ah well, sorry to hear that, at least it will make a nice dried specimen.

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  2. I noticed that video on your YouTube a few days ago and couldn't help but start making comparisons of their bioluminescence to that of glowworms. Theirs appears way stronger, but the glow is limited to those two pronotal spots. The glowworms' is fainter, but is present on both the borders and top/bottom of the body. In conclusion, they are both awesomely bioluminescent, but Motyxia beats them both. :p

    Most of my nymphs are actually right on track with yours it seems. :) Glad you have finally been able to witness the jet black glory of Eurycotis lixa AKA the pit bull roach! ;) BTW, I know it's bad, but I actually thought that cardboard roll was your arm until seeing it for like the fiftieth time! LOL

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    1. Indeed, their glow is way stronger than that of glowworms I've seen, but they only have the two little glow spots on the pronotum, and one orange on on their bellies.
      In terms of brightness, Motyxia lose to both glowworms and Pyrophorus, they glow SOOOO dimly, you have to be in complete darkness and it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the darkness and even see them glowing. I can see my Pyrophorus glowing in broad daylight.

      That's cool! Yes, they are a very pretty black, can't wait to see the adults firsthand! LMAO I mean I am pretty tan, but really? 😂

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    2. OMG I showed the picture to my mom and one of my sisters and the agreed it looked like my arm... 😆

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    3. Guess the online pics of Montyxia are overly-convincing. lol Wow, that sounds quite impressive! You have to at least place a glowworm in a moderately dark shadow to notice any sort of glow.

      Haha, so glad I'm not the only one! LOL Better start lifting before the nickname, "Cardboard roll-armed bug boy", sticks. :p

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    4. Yeah, and that video from national geographic too. They must have used special camera equipment that made the glow seem more intense, or that picks up the glow better than the human eye can.

      Yeah, these Pyrophorus have the brightest glow of any animal I've ever seen in person, it's amazing!

      I really should get in better shape, I've always been pretty skinny, much more so than my siblings, never been the athletic type. My mom keeps getting me to try to do yoga, maybe I should lol! Definitely don't want that nickname to stick! 😆

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    5. Speaking of notifications, did you check your comments yet, AAI?

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    6. @InvertebrateDude, For sure.

      I'd be really cool to get some eventually and get to see it in person! I actually picked up some hardwood pellets recently, so I should start trying to ferment some.

      Haha, I'm the thinnest in my family as well. I've played baseball in leagues at a couple local parks for the past six years, but decided to take off this year. I definitely don't feel as strong as I usually do, so I should probably play again next year. Maybe! LOL

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    7. The more people keeping these the better! :D You definitely should try and ferment those wood pellets, I'm not having much luck with mine right now, I feel like my batch may have been exposed to some fungal inhibiting chemicals or something... :(

      That's cool, you should start playing again, seems like a cool hobby! :) Never know, maybe you could go pro lol! Wouldn't have much time for keeping bugs then though...

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  3. When do you get reply notifications? (see talk pg)

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    1. I never get any notifications for Blogger replies, do you? Maybe I need to change some settings...

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    2. I get pseudo-notifications on my own blog (all new comments show up in the "awaiting moderation"), but not any others.

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    3. Actually, I get too many email notifications for my blog. I even get notified when I comment on my own post!

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    4. Remember to check the talk page again

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    5. I get an email every time I publish a post, but at that point, I don't even need a notification! :p

      Will do!

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