Lots of Darkling Beetle Updates!

First off, I thought I'd just let you all know that I have released most of my Eleodes hispilabris, on account of me losing interest in breeding them. I still have three CB adults that are housed in various other Tenebrionid or cockroach enclosures, but I have stopped breeding them for now.

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Secondly, after adding a bit more sand to my Eleodes osculans enclosure, I have finally found some larvae in there! They are short, stubby little things, very cute IMO! 😊 (Just like the adults!).

Here are some pictures of them:

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Most of my Coniontis sp. "CA" adults have died off now, presumably due to old age. The larvae have proven to be hard to pupate, however I was pleased to see that at least one of the larvae I've isolated has created a pupal cell and is in the pre-pupal stage now! 😁 Seems like the more cramped the pupation enclosure, the better. Hopefully the others will follow suite soon, there are a LOT of larvae that have reached maturity now, I want to rear up as many as I can before they expire!

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The larger Eleodes sp. larvae I received from Brandon Woo several months ago have proven to be extremely difficult to rear, with the majority of them dying before or while entering the pre-pupal stage. This is likely due to improper humidity levels, the pre-pupae don't seem to like it quite as moist as most of the other Eleodes species I've bred.

I DID get two larvae to pupate successfully though, and two more are still in the pre-pupal stage, so hopefully I can get at least one pair to mature successfully and breed! Anyway, one of the pupae has finally eclosed, and I can finally announce the identity of these larvae!

Here she is, introducing Eleodes acuticaudus!!!:

Will let you all know if I can rear the rest of them to maturity!

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Now, here are a couple sad announcements...

I am sad to say that the one Alobates larva I was able to save died, it did not seem to be able to ingest the wood I fed it, and refused to feed on any chick feed or dead mealworms I offered it. All but one of my adults have died off as well, probably due to old age, so it looks like I've completely failed at breeding this species. 😢

Also, most of my Edrotes ventricosus adults are showing signs of old age, and a few have died off already. Doesn't look like they've given me ANY offspring at all, so this was also a big bust.

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Now let's end on a high note! My Eleodes tribulus have been breeding very prolifically for me, and the larvae are very easy to rear as well. I've got a couple dozen adults now, which are producing even more larvae!

Here are a few pictures of some adults:

Well, that's going to do it for this post everyone, thanks for reading, will see you all next time! 😉

3 Years in a Garage, & Other Tenebrionid Updates...

Last week, I was digging around in my garage, looking for an old Ziplock bag of rotten wood I had collected over three years ago, to use in my Pyrophorus enclosures. I found the bag and opened it up, only to find that half of the wood was highly deteriorated, and seemed to have been turned into tiny frass pellets. I was quite confused, until I dug around a bit and found several Tenebrionidae larvae inside!!! 😮

Somehow these things survived in this Ziplock bag full of only rotten wood, in my poorly insulated garage for THREE YEARS!!! That's three hot summers, three freezing winters, conditions I wouldn't think anything except for maybe mites could survive in! That's what I call a hardy species!

They are Alleculinae larvae for sure, and since the wood they were collected in came from the same tree and was collected at the same time as my old Hymenorus sp culture, I'm guessing they are the same species. I will be moving them to a proper container soon with more rotten wood, which I will still keep in the garage during the winter, since the cold may be needed for proper development. Once springtime comes I will bring them indoors, I'm guessing several adults will emerge at around that time.

It was quite a pleasant surprise, I'm glad to be culturing this species once again! Unfortunately, this all means that I have less usable rotten wood than I thought, so I may need to get more...

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Upon request, I'm giving you guys an update on my Edrotes ventricosus! 🙂 So far, nothing has changed, all of my adults are still alive, and they seem to be only eating chick feed. I haven't gotten any eggs from them yet, whether because my setup is wrong, or because they only lay eggs early in the year, I have no clue. No one has successfully bred this species before, so I have no idea what is needed to get females to oviposit.

A friend of mine is working with this species right now, and will be trying to feed them live wild oat grass, (Avena fatua), among other native plants that are commonly found in their wild habitat, so maybe he'll be able to breed them successfully, we will see!

Anyway, here are some pictures of my adults:

Will be sure to post an update on these guys if anything changes!

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So, it looks like only one of my remaining Eusattus muricatus larvae made it to pupation, the other two died. Now I have two adults in total, and it seems like they are both the same sex, as I have not noticed any mating behavior, nor have I found any eggs in their enclosure. So it seems like I've reached a dead end with this cool little darkling beetles species. 😞

Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of one of the adults today:

Will be sure to post an update on these cuties if anything changes, but I highly doubt I'll be getting any offspring from them.

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Many of my Eleodes tribulus larvae have been pupating lately, and my first CB adult just eclosed the other day, it's a male! I find it very satisfying to rear desert Tenebs to adulthood, I'm glad I was able to successfully breed and rear this species, I believe I am the first person to do so! 😊 (Not that these are particularly hard to breed, it's just that there aren't a whole lot of Tenebrionid breeders out there).

Here are a couple pictures of the teneral male:

Hopefully there will be many more adults where this one came from!

Well, that is going to do it for today's post, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉

Tenebrionid Success Updates!

I have had some nice successes with many of my Tenebrionids lately, so here's a new post just to highlight those successes! 😁

My Coniontis sp. "CA" have laid many eggs since I first got them, and I now have lots of larva tunneling around the enclosure! They seem to grow pretty fast, I was surprised at how large some of them were when I dug around the cage today looking for larvae to photograph!

Here are a couple half decent pictures of one of the larvae, (you'd be surprised at how much trouble I had to go through just to get these pictures):

The smaller Coniontis sp that I collected myself a little while ago have also produced eggs for me, and there are now several small larvae in their enclosure as well! Unfortunately they were too small for me to take any decent pictures of them, once they get bigger I'll try and snap some photos.

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The batch of Eleodes larvae that I got last month from Brandon Woo that are either E.acuticaudus or E.osculans have all pupated now! I separated a few into their own deli cups, but the majority are still inside the medium sized tupperware I housed them all in, they all dug to the bottom and constructed their own pupal cells at pretty much the same time.

I'm very lucky that they all grew at the same rate and decided to pupate all at once, otherwise the pupae would likely be cannibalized, not to mention many of the pupal cells would be collapsed by the tunneling activities of other larvae.

Anyway, considering their size, I'm almost 100% sure they are Eleodes osculans, will know for sure once some of the pupae eclose!

Here is a picture of one of the pupae that I had isolated into it's own deli cup:

Hopefully I'll end up with a lot of adults in a few weeks!

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I finally found larvae in my Eleodes tribulus container last month, this species seems to appreciate a rather sandy substrate for egg laying, and they don't seem to be terribly prolific either. The adults also really need good ventilation or else they get sluggish.

Here is a picture of one of the larvae:

In other Eleodes larvae related news, I now have a ton of Eleodes rileyi larvae! They seem very long and wiry compared to other Eleodes I've seen, unfortunately they are too small right now for me to get good pictures of them. This species is a lot more prolific than I expected, hopefully the larvae will turn out to be easy to rear!

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I have been isolating quite a few of my Embaphion cf. contusum larvae for pupation over the last month or so, and now I have quite a few new adults! This species has proven to be just as easy to breed as Embaphion muricatum, if not more so! The pupal survival rate is pretty high, and the percentage of "perfect" adults that eclose seems to be a little higher than that of E.muricatum.

Here are pictures of some of the fresh adults:

So glad this species has done well for me!

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Lastly, let's talk about my Meracantha contracta. Sadly, my female passed away the other day, this species doesn't live that long as adults, only a few months, and considering the extent of the injuries my female had, I'm honestly surprised she made it this long! Luckily she left me with a lot of larvae, she was way more prolific than I thought females of this species were supposed to be!

The larvae are doing very well on a diet of just chick feed and a little bit of leaf litter, (they don't really love the latter), so no rotten wood seems to be needed to rear this species, which is great! Some of the larvae are about half grown now I'd say, or very close to half grown at least!

Here are some pictures of a few of the larvae:

The coloration of the larvae seems to be pretty variable at this stage, some are sort of an orange tan color, while others have more of a rich chocolate brown coloration.

Overall it seems like most of my Tenebrionid species are doing very well right now, which pleases me greatly! That's gonna do it for today's post everyone, I hope you all enjoyed, will see you again soon! 😉

New Invertebrates From Bugsincyberspace & Cody Will!!!

A few months ago I won a little contest Peter Clausen from Bugsincyberspace.com held on FaceBook for a free $30 order from his site, and I finally cashed it in for a sexed pair of Eleodes tribulus, a cute, fuzzy species of darkling beetle, and a vinegarroon, a unique arachnid I've been wanting forever!

Let's start off with the Eleodes tribulus. It is a small species in the subgenus Blapylis, males often have a small mucro, and both sexes are covered in hair. I only ordered a sexed pair, but Peter sent an extra female for free as well. 😁 Hopefully these will be relatively easy to rear, I've had mixed success with members of this subgenus, for the most part they have been pretty easy to breed though, just not all that prolific.

I have them in a small plastic container with coconut fiber as the substrate, with some dead leaves mixed in as well for extra oviposition impetus and/or larval food. I have cardboard pieces for hides and will be feeding them mostly chick feed. I will keep one area of the enclosure moist at all times and the rest dry.

Here are some pictures of them!

Male

Female

With any luck I should have little larvae within a month or two, will let you guys know how they do!

The other amazing invertebrate I got from Peter was a WC juvenile vinegarroon, Mastigoproctus giganteus, also known as a "whipscorpion". These are really neat and unique arachnids, they don't have any venom and while they do have pincers, they very rarely use them. Instead, to defend themselves they spray a vinegar like solution from their rear, using their "whip" appendage, the flagellum, to help aim the spray at their would-be predators.

The defensive solution is more mild than actual vinegar, and is basically harmless to humans. Sure, it would probably hurt a lot if it got in your eyes, but it likely wouldn't cause any long-term damage. That, coupled with the fact that these are actually pretty docile animals, makes them a great, harmless candidate for any bug enthusiast's collection! 😊

I am keeping mine in a gallon sized plastic container filled with a few inches of coconut fiber and sand, which I will be keeping moist. I have a bark slab in there for a hide, even though it'll likely construct it's own hide in the form of a burrow later on. I have been feeding it Parcoblatta americana nymphs and adult females, which it seems to like a lot. Will try larger prey items soon.

Anyway, here are some pictures of it while it is feeding on a P.americana female:

And the enclosure

I'm really thrilled to have one of these in my collection, they are such cool looking creatures, really hope mine does well for me and lives a nice, long life in my care!

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I also made a trade with Cody Will this week, I traded off the remainder of my Ergaula capucina for 10 Coniontis sp darkling beetles he caught in Cottonwood, California. I've been wanting to try and breed this genus again for a while now, so I am very glad to have some in my collection once again! This species is much larger than the ones I found here in ID, which is very nice, hopefully they'll be just as easy to breed!

I have them in a medium sized plastic container with coconut fiber and lots of dead leaf litter as the substrate, I put a small amount of leaf litter in the original mix, but then the beetles arrived and they were actually shipped in leaf litter, so I threw that in too, (after sterilizing it of course). Members of this tribe seem to really like leaf litter in their diet, (like Coelus and Eusattus), and while I haven't found it necessary to keeping Coniontis in the past, it certainly can't hurt to add some to their enclosure. 😄 I will keep most of the enclosure dry, with one moist area, and will feed them mostly chick feed.

Here are some pictures of them:

Love how large the pronotums of Coniontis are in comparison to the rest of their bodies, gives them such an unusual look, that and their cylindrical shape!

Anyway, that's gonna do it for today folks, you everyone enjoyed this post, will see you all soon! 😉