Jump to content

Goliathus

Members
  • Posts

    572
  • Joined

  • Last visited

3 Followers

About Goliathus

  • Birthday February 27

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    The Living Planet
  • Interests
    Insects (esp. Coleoptera and Lepidoptera)

Recent Profile Visitors

6,028 profile views

Goliathus's Achievements

Flower Beetle

Flower Beetle (7/10)

0

Reputation

  1. A Dark Flower Scarab (Euphoria sepulcralis)- https://bugguide.net/node/view/3769
  2. Adult Dynastes do it as well. Regurgitating liquified gut contents when disturbed is also a well known behavior in many Orthoptera, especially short-horned grasshoppers (Acrididae). Presumably, the fluid is foul-tasting to predators.
  3. I don't think you'll ever regret having purchased these specimens. With proper care, they'll last indefinitely. I've certainly spent a lot (probably much more than I should have) on my own collection over the years, but I feel it's been worth it. I know I'll never personally travel to most of the places these species come from; in some cases, it's just too remote or dangerous to go to. A friend of mine went collecting in tropical Africa years ago and told me that although it was an amazing trip, camping in the rainforest for days at a time was extremely rough and very stressful. It was impossible to stay dry because of the excessive humidity, and biting insects like flies and mosquitoes were everywhere.
  4. That's a nice form of Goliathus orientalis. G. orientalis is often referred to as "meleagris" in older literature, and this particular form is modernly called "pustulatus", which itself has a wide diversity of pattern variations. Most specimens come from the Katanga (formerly called Shaba) province of the DRC. Some examples of G. o. pustulatus have very large spots, while in others, they're tiny (to the extent that the elytra are more black than white).
  5. If you haven't already, Lucanus placidus would be a species worth breeding, if you can obtain some - https://bugguide.net/node/view/2011471/bgimage It seems to be one of the less frequently kept of the US lucanids. I think that forum member JKim has some experience with rearing this species, though.
  6. Thanks! Working with live insects can be laborious (and frustrating) at times, but when everything goes right, the experience is totally worthwhile, especially if the goal took a long time to reach! I don't have mazama anymore (it's probably been over 10 years), but this species is rather widespread and easily collected at various mountain localities. My stock came from the Santa Rita Mtns. in southeast AZ. I bred them for several generations, before moving on to other species. I'd consider mazama to be a great starter lucanid species, as they are so easy to keep.
  7. Best of luck in your breeding project; a very interesting species, and the only member of the genus Stenodontes found in the US. Here's a photo of a large male - https://bugguide.net/node/view/774223
  8. L. elaphus is an impressive beetle, but I haven't worked with it for some years now, since in my experience, their emergence times are very unpredictable, and also, I had considerable issues with pupation, in most generations. The larvae are quite easy to rear, but I get the impression that they might need some kind of environmental trigger(s) (such as changes in temperature or moisture), to get them to progress to the adult stage in any kind of predictable time frame. On one occasion around 8 years ago, I was able to produce some very large adults, as well as get very good reproduction, but undoubtedly, there are other hobbyists who have been much more consistently successful with elaphus than I have been. I've had similar issues with Chrysina spp. (except for C. gloriosa, which proved to be considerably more predictable in regard to successful pupation and emergence time). In contrast to elaphus, I found L. mazama to be far easier to breed - no problems at all with them, at any stage. This species does not have the huge, elaborate mandibles of elaphus, but is still a great beetle, in its own way.
  9. I've heard that for some years now, many hobbyists around the world have experienced this problem with various species of Dynastinae, including D. hercules and large Megasoma spp. such as actaeon, mars and elaphas. The developmental issue typically starts in late L2 / early L3. It's suspected by some to be the result of the fact that many stocks of these species have now been inbred in captivity for many generations. While it's undoubtedly true that some stocks have been seriously inbred, whether this is indeed the reason for the developmental issues, I really have no idea. Certainly, there are many insect species (including various beetles) that do not appear to suffer from inbreeding related problems at all, even after decades. Perhaps there are just some species that are prone to such issues, and others that aren't.
  10. From what I have read, M. oberthuri is considered to be more difficult to rear than other species of Mecynorhina; not because the larvae are problematic, but because there is apparently a much higher probability of die-off during the pupal cell stage. At least, this was the case with early efforts in rearing the species; it's possible that some hobbyists have since made improvements to the rearing process.
  11. Adult grain mites don't attach to beetles or beetle larvae, but the hypopus (a form of the nymph stage) is able to tightly cling to even very smooth surfaces, since it has a structure on the ventral side that works like a suction cup -
  12. Grain mites (Acarus spp.) aren't actually parasites, but if they're present in large numbers, it indicates that there's a nutrient overload (nutrient pollution) in the substrate. It's a bit like when agricultural runoff (fertilizer) ends up in lakes and rivers, leading to an abnormal bloom of algae that disrupts the ecosystem.
  13. The most thorough method of removing mites from beetles is by simply spraying the mites off of them with water using a basic trigger-spray bottle, which will dislodge any type of mite, even the really clingy phoretic nymphs (Hypopus) of grain mites -
  14. Sinodendron rugosum certainly is very unusual among Lucanidae - it looks more like a miniature rhinoceros beetle, than a stag beetle. Hoping that you will be successful in breeding them!
  15. A tropical species of Temnoscheila from Ecuador -
×
×
  • Create New...