This species is one of the bulkiest Tenebrionids I know of, they can reach up to 45 mm in length, and are very heavy beetles. Certainly larger than any of our native darklings, and larvae can apparently exceed a staggering 8 centimeters in length! 😮
I received 4 medium sized larvae from a breeder here in the US. She's been having luck rearing the larvae she's gotten from her adult pair soon far, and I hope I'll be able to rear these 4 larvae to maturity here myself! 😀
I've got each of them set up in their own deli cups on a substrate of sand several inches deep, the top couple inches of the substrate are kept dry, and the bottom inch or so is kept moist. I have to keep them separately, as apparently larvae of this species are very cannibalistic. The enclosures are well ventilated, and for food I'll be offering chick feed, live Eleodes larvae and leaf litter. However, larvae of this species apparently almost never come to the surface, and thus it's highly recommended that you bury their food so they can access it easier. Thus, I'll be adding predatory and oribatid mites to their enclosure, to prevent grain mite infestations.
Larvae of this species supposedly like hanging out in the driest parts of the enclosure, somewhat unusual for a lot of Teneb larvae, which usually like the areas where humid substrate meets the dry substrate best in my experience.
Here are some pictures of them, they look like very pallid, off-white Asbolus larvae with softer exoskeletons, photos of Prionotheca larvae online are pretty much nonexistent sadly:
I'm so thrilled to be working with this species, it's a very iconic darkling beetle species that I've wanted to breed ever since I first saw them back in 2012 or so in Orin McMonigle's "The Ultimate Guide to Breeding Beetles". Really hope I can get a colony established and help get them established here in the US. 😄
Well, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, stay safe, stay discreet, and I'll you all in the next post! 😉
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