Large oak paradise

G

GeneralZero

Fresh Imago
So went to the park today with my girlfriend to walk a lot instead of going to the gym and to enjoy the scenery as well. Obviously I brought my backpack in case I found some decent usable wood for substrate. Well I found a huge oak tree knocked down and a huge majority is rotted and fresh and white
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also, I think I found like 4-5 darkling beetle larvae. (correct me if I'm wrong) posting some pictures to go along as well. I have a good couple of days of as well and will probably visit the park again this week and will be very busy producing a large amount of substrate to store.

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I apologize for the poor quality photos my smart phone camera isn't that great. Especially with close up shots and macro.

 
ah so that's what it is!! I suppose so, actually makes sense I saw a lot of those in there. I was hoping to find lucanus but they seem to be deep in the wood and I only took the surface and dug a little in but that's about it.

 
You have found a darkling beetle larvae. It's hard to tell by the blurry picture but it appears to be a species in genus Centronopus.

 
Thanks Hardshell!

and oh I have? Cool! I've never seen them before they were pretty neat. I didn't collect them though as I tend to like Dynastes more. I'm hoping I can return this week to dig through a large portion of that tree to see what I may find.

 
You won't find Dynastes unless you search in tree cavities at the bases of trees that are dead (or dying). Sort of... between the roots. I learned this from collecting with Lucanus. I later on found some Dynastes larvae myself.

 
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Really??? Ah good to know! I've seen a couple of dead stumps around there as well I should check those to see if there are some there...why do they stay there Ryan?

 
Well besides that haha. What advantages do they have? Is it because the female feels it is safe? Or is it the nutrition of the rotting tree and soil?

 
Okay so went today to look through a few cavities, but the rain was a bit much so going to wait until it is dry out. Any suggestions or tips and how far do you dig down???

 
GeneralZero said:
Well besides that haha. What advantages do they have? Is it because the female feels it is safe? Or is it the nutrition of the rotting tree and soil?
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The soil that gets collected inside the tree cavity consists of rich soil which is an excellent food for larvae
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GeneralZero said:
Okay so went today to look through a few cavities, but the rain was a bit much so going to wait until it is dry out. Any suggestions or tips and how far do you dig down???
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I usually had to dig for only about an inch or two before I discovered the beetles
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Larvae tend to stay deeper.

The ones where D. tityus are living should have huge fecal pellets inside. So you should look for fecal pellets when you are searching inside tree cavities
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Makes sense..I did try to keep an eye out for the pellets, but again the rain made it difficult since it all seemed muddy. I will try again on a sunny day this week to see if that gives out any results. Though five in one cavity is awesome, I'll be lucky to find one! Also, how long did you search for??

 
Oh and here is a picture of the tree cavity where I found my D. tityus. It was originally sealed so the rain didn't get in much, but I destroyed the top part.

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Inside of the tree cavity. You can see fecal pellets.

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Oh I am sorry I meant how long it took you to find a suitable tree! Also would you kindly re-post the images? They aren't appearing it's showing them as broken links.
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