Does beetle size dictate size of offspring?

ChrisB

ChrisB

L1
What determines the size of adults and the size of a males horns? If the adults paired are small in size (small or minor), will their larvae emerge as small or minor adults? Ie, only giant and major adults can bear giant and major adults? I get the sense that if you breed a small male adult (small horn) all their larvae will emerge win small horns. 

Or is their size ultimately determined by their husbandry and independent of their ‘parents’ attributes?

Thanks!

 
I'm not sure if there is a simple answer. I would guess that the size of the parents affect the size of the offspring in some ways. However, note that I have often raised big adult beetles from small or medium adults. So I definitely think you can big adults with major horns from small parents. However, maybe if you had big parents, you could get even bigger off spring? So hard to say because there is so much involved in the raising process. I think everyone here would agree that they have raised small and large adults that had the same parents. So for sure there is a lot other variables involved. But I would assume that having big huge parents would make it easier to raise big adults. It's a factor but only one of the factors. 

 
I know from experience that very small adults can indeed produce very large offspring.  I've reared huge beetles from tiny parents many times.  But, this only happens if the rearing conditions are optimal, since overall, that has a greater influence on size than genetics.  Even under optimal nutritional and environmental conditions though, it's not unusual to still get considerable variation in size.  This often happens even if all larvae are reared under identical conditions - it seems that some simply have the potential to become giants, while others don't.  If the rearing conditions are substandard however, then all of the larvae will be stunted in their growth.

 
I was curious, since the larvae I have are from a minor male, and both he and the female were small sized. Guess we'll find out in a year! Thanks Goliathus.

 
I had a pair of D. tityus last year in which both the male and female were really small, yet they've produced some of the biggest larvae I've ever seen.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top