I got my 7 Phaneus Vindex beetles in the other day!! Very happy with them! I got one tiny female who is adorable and the rest are rather large. Only disappointment was that out of the 7 I ordered, I got 6 females and one male. Pretty sure the male is a major male which is cool though. Definitely going to try and breed them!
Bugsincyberspace
- Thread starter Beetlebee
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Goliathus
Pachnoda
Are you certain that you actually have 6 females? In Phanaeus, small males can look a lot like females because of reduced horn size and pronotal development. In vindex, if they have any horn at all, even just a small bump, they are males, since the females are always hornless and have only a tiny projection on the head which is never very pronounced. The horn can be so reduced in small males that the shape of the pronotum can actually be a better way to distinguish them from females.
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I'll see if I can get some good pictures of them. They do seem to have tiny projections on their heads, but they also have another one behind it, where their red coloring appears. So I'm not completely sure. The male with the large horn has a very large horn however so I am sure of him lol
Goliathus
Pachnoda
Interestingly, there are some members of the Phanaeini in which both the male and female have horns, such as Coprophanaeus (=Megaphanaeus) lancifer from the Amazon. Another unusual thing about this species is that it's about as big around as a golf ball, and feeds on carrion instead of dung. Another photo (male).
Oh wow, those are gorgeous
Beautiful blue! How would you distinguish between a male and female of that species? I'd love to have some dung beetles as big as golf balls lol I see lots of people selling dead specimens of beetles that large, but I imagine they are very hard to get in the US.
Goliathus
Pachnoda
True, C. lancifer has a deep metallic blue colour that's not very common in beetles. Here's another good photo of a male. Another species, C. ensifer, is just as large but is green instead of blue.
Males have more prominent sculpturing on the pronotum than the females, and usually have proportionately larger horns.
I've never heard of anyone breeding any species of Coprophanaeus, but despite the extra effort which would undoubtedly be involved, they would certainly be a very interesting and worthwhile genus to work with, especially the larger species such as lancifer and ensifer. Incidentally, one small species, C. pluto ranges into the southernmost point of TX. It's completely black in colour, and only the size of US Phanaeus species.
Males have more prominent sculpturing on the pronotum than the females, and usually have proportionately larger horns.
I've never heard of anyone breeding any species of Coprophanaeus, but despite the extra effort which would undoubtedly be involved, they would certainly be a very interesting and worthwhile genus to work with, especially the larger species such as lancifer and ensifer. Incidentally, one small species, C. pluto ranges into the southernmost point of TX. It's completely black in colour, and only the size of US Phanaeus species.
Those beetles are so beautiful!