Eleodes Updates

Alrighty, I've got some Eleodes updates for ya'll, so let's dig in! 😀

First off, my Eleodes nigrina. My females have been laying more eggs, they don't appear to be the most prolific of Eleodes, but having four is gonna ensure that I still get a lot of offspring... 😅 Some of my older larvae have grown quite a bit, I'd say they're a third of the way grown in terms of length already!

Here are some pictures I took of one of the larger individuals:

Not the best pictures, but hey, better than nothing... 😂 I'll be sure to keep you all updated on these, so far they seem rather easy to breed.

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Now, for a kind of disappointing update, unfortunately I do suspect I was right in my original assumption that my "Eleodes cf. extricata" male was a male E.rileyi, as I just found a female of E.rileyi in the same area, and looking at her pronotum I really don't see much of a difference between hers and the male's in terms of the acute anterior angles...

Here are some pictures of the female I just found:

I could be wrong, but I do think the male my sister found is actually a male E.rileyi, like this female... I'll keep looking though, maybe I'm wrong and I'll find some E.extricata females! 😅

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As far as my Eleodes obscura go, I unfortunately still have not seen offspring, neither eggs or larvae... BUT, my females have finally started burrowing, which is a good sign of egg laying, so fingers crossed I see some larvae in there soon! 🤞

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And last but not least, just thought I'd let you all know that my Eleodes sp. (subgenus Blapylis) substrate is teeming with tiny larvae now. 😄 They seem just as easy to breed as I remember them being so far!

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

Some May Finds!

More cool finds! Yesterday I went out bugging again, and I found this (presumably) female Phidippus under a rock. Here are some pictures of her, she's a cutie! 😄

I've not seen one with these exact markings before, nor one with blue fangs, so I've taken some pictures and submitted them to Bugguide for identification. I'm also keeping her temporarily, since she looks to either be in pre-molt or about to lay an egg sack... If it's the latter, I'll likely release her, but if it's the former I want to get more pictures of her to maybe have a better chance of getting an ID.

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My sister also happened to find this Eleodes male running around. At first I thought it was Eleodes rileyi, a species I've bred before and have found nearby, but on closer inspection the pronotum shape is quite different, I believe this is probably a species I've never caught before, Eleodes extricata.

I'll definitely be looking around for females now, and will send pictures to an expert ASAP for a confirmation or correction on my tentative ID. 

Anyways, that's gonna do it for today guys, I hope you all enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you in the next post! 😉

Eleodes rileyi and Dorylaea orini Updates!

I have been able to get a few Eleodes rileyi to pupate and eclose recently! My larvae had a weird wave of die offs towards the end of their development, and several died right before and during pupation, but luckily my original females produced a TON of offspring, and it doesn't seem like any special impetus is needed to induce pupation. Just small deli cups filled with moist, compressed coco fiber did the trick.

Here are some pictures of a pupa:

Here's the resulting adult, both teneral, and hardened:

And here's a different one:

I'm glad I was able to rear at least a few adults up, hopefully they will live for a couple years or so! 😊

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My Dorylaea orini are starting to mature, and man don't they look lovely! 😁 I'm definitely going to have to rehouse them again soon, that's gonna be reeeeaaallll fun...

Here are some pics of an adult female:

And a subadult nymph for fun:

Hopefully this breeding attempt will be more successful than my last, I certainly have a more even sex ratio now, and way more individuals to start off with, so we'll see!

Well, that's gonna do it for this post everyone, hope you all enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉