Last Male polyphemus from this Brood-Much more Red!

This is the final male from this brood and it eclosed with much more red on the elytra. Shows almost metallic when damp, more subdued when dry. Here are wet and dry photos. I've paired both of them with a freshly eclosed (and last!) female with my fingers crossed!

If you've got any females that have already mated as well I say you take out the males and put in the red ones and hope the last ones are from the red males. Breeding for an odd color form is one of the most enjoyable aspects of keeping inverts. Maybe you could even end up with solid red ones.

Orin said:

If you've got any females that have already mated as well I say you take out the males and put in the red ones and hope the last ones are from the red males. Breeding for an odd color form is one of the most enjoyable aspects of keeping inverts. Maybe you could even end up with solid red ones.

Click to expand...

Hi Orin, Thanks. I actually have a freshly eclosed virgin female. She emerged day before yesterday, that last male yesterday. I guess it was just a lucky pairing that bought out that trait. This is the 4th gen., and never a hint of red. And I only kept a dozen grubs! Kind of strange these males were the last to eclose and also by far the smallest. I'm pretty stoked!

Do you think that each mating fertilizes new eggs or are they all fertilized together?

Going to be alot of work trying to raise that many grubs. Take care.

http://www.kuwawakaba.com/moriya/Mecynorhuna_polyphemus_confluens_f_rougatre.jpg

Here's a nice looking all red male located on a Japanese website, quite the beetle.