Darkling & Click Beetle Stuff

My Embaphion muricatum larva are doing great, and a few of them have pupated! A couple of them sat on top of the substrate in their enclosure and got in the pre-pupa position, I removed them and put them in their own little deli cups, each filled with a thin layer of moist coconut fiber. Another tried to make a pupal cell at the bottom of the larva enclosure, I moved that one as well.

Here are some pictures:

Pre-pupa

Pupa

The pupa are so unique looking, and have very large pronotums. Hopefully in a few weeks they will start to eclose!

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Now that the weather is getting warmer, many insects are coming out. One common critter that can be found in many areas here in Idaho are a small species of darkling beetle, Blapstinus sp. These are commonly found on sidewalks, and around ant colonies. Just how they are associated with ants in nature, I do not know.

I have bred these in the past, they are not too finicky but the females do not lay many eggs, and the larva seem to require a moist substrate to survive. I am not currently keeping these, but I took some photos of on a while ago and thought I would share the pictures with you!

And that's the end of the darkling beetle discussions for today, let's move on to some of my new click beetles.

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A while ago I was walking down a trail, and while looking under some bark under a willow tree I found four large click beetles. Now I say large, but these are half the size of, say, an Alaus melanops. Still, they are larger than most of the click beetle species I have seen here in Idaho, so they seem large to me. According to the experts on bugguide, they are a species of Melanotus.

I have them housed in a deli cup filled with rotten wood, dead leaves, and a little bit of coconut fiber. I am keeping them moist, and am feeding them banana slices. I will probably try some apple slices this week. I am hoping some of them are gravid females, as I would like to breed them.

Here are a couple pictures of one:

Hopefully I will see some sign of oviposition soon!

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Now, I have been finding these small click beetles in my neighborhood, mostly under rocks and other debris. They would appear to all be the same species, but many of them have different coloration, so perhaps not. I currently have about seven of them.

I am keeping them in a small container filled with moist sand and coconut fiber, there are pieces of wood and dead leaves as hides. I am feeding them carrots and fruits. So far there are no signs of any oviposition.

Here are some pictures of a few individuals:

Hopefully I can get them identified, and breed them as well. EDIT: It would appear that these are all Aeolus livens, a variable species of click beetle in which melanistic forms are common.

Well that's it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed, next week I will be getting some really cool, really rare roaches, so stay tuned! :)

Myriapod Madness Pt.2, Plus a Few Additional Updates

I won a contest held by Michael Dixon from Mike's House of A Thousand Legs, and I got a beautiful Rhysida sp. "Purple", some small white springtails, and a few Oxidus gracilis.

I am loving my Rhysida sp. "Purple", it is absolutely beautiful! It is being housed in a small container filled with coconut fiber mixed with a tiny bit of sand, there is a piece of bark in the cage as a hide, and well as some moss. It attacked and ate one roach nymph, and it killed one but did not feed on it immediately, I later checked on it and the roach had been eaten. 

Here are some pictures of the beauty! 

The enclosure

Went a bit picture crazy on this guy, I love him/her so much! The small springtails were sent in the centipede's substrate, so they are its cage, somewhere...

My Oxidus gracilis are being housed in a deli cup filled with coconut fiber, there is a layer of dead leaves on top of the substrate, as well as some moss. They are being fed the dead leaves, and dog food. They are supposed to be quite prolific, hopefully they will do well for me.

Here are some pics:

Their enclosure

A few weeks ago I helped cut down a friends tree, it was a old, dead maple tree. Inside were some click beetles, longhorn beetle larvae, springtails, and these tiny Julid millipedes. I believe they are Blaniulus guttulatus, an common introduced European species. They are in a few of my cages that are using the wood I got from the tree, I will isolate them soon. They eat rotten wood, dead leaves, and dog food.

Here are some pictures of one:

That's it for the Myriapods, but I do have a couple of other things I want to show you guys!

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My male Melanolestes picipes has passed away, he was probably a bit old and the males don't seem to live that long. The female is still kicking though, and she has been laying eggs! I found five, but I'm sure there are more.

I took all five I found and put them each in their own enclosures, because once those eggs hatch the bloodthirsty nymphs will try to eat each other if kept in the same cage. They are in small deli cups filled with thin layers of moist coconut fiber. Hopefully they'll hatch soon!

Here are a few pics of them:

I'll keep you guys updated on these, I can't wait until they hatch! :)

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A few days ago I was at a medical clinic, and I saw something crawling on the floor. I quickly grabbed one of the small containers that I keep in my bag for such an occasion, and scooped the little bugger out of harm's way. It was an adult female snakefly, Agulla sp. I have seen the larva many times but have never seen an adult in person. I decided to keep her, and I brought her home.

I have her in a container filled with some coconut fiber, and I have some upright bark pieces and some dead leaves as hides/perches. I tried feeding her cat food, tiny Parcoblatta americana nymphs, and a big pre-killed P.americana nymph, non of which were consumed.

After reading up a bit, I found that these guys were picky eaters, and that they liked aphids. So I got some from my backyard, which elicited an immediate feeding response. I'm hoping she has been mated, as I would love for her to lay some eggs!

Here are some pictures of her:

Well, that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I will see you all next time! :)