Mantichora latipennis

Hi Matt, the paper you are searching about Anthia larvae is this one:

Paarmann, W. "A reduced number of larval instars, as an adaptation of the desert carabid beetle Thermophilum (Anthia) sexmaculatum F. (Coleoptera, Carabidae) to its arid environment." Miscellaneous Papers 18 (1979): 113-117.

Unfortunately, I do not have it (I read it when I was visiting a carabid specialist in Germany) and it is extremely difficult to get it online.

What I meant to say was that an Anthia female lays 1-2 huge eggs every breeding season. The beetles can survive at least 3 years in captivity (from my experience), so potentially you can get more eggs out of a female. Mating the beetles is super easy. In the wild, Anthia lay eggs straight after the rains, so to trigger a female to lay you would have to think of a way to mimic a sudden increase of moisture (both in air and substrate).

 
Thanks for the reference, I'll ask the Librarian at the Royal Ent Soc if they have the paper in the library anywhere - they should have it.

 
They did
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Glad to hear that. You might also want to check another refernce by the same author about the biology of Graphipterus serrator larvae in ant nests. Very intersting.

 
If you mean: "Ecological, behavioural and chemical adaptations to ant predation in species of Thermophilum and Graphipterus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the Sahara desert" then I have that one already - interesting reading.

 
This one is good as well, I actually meant an earlier paper:
Paarman W (1985) Larvae preying on ant broods: an adaptation of the desert carabid beetle Graphiperus serrator Forsskal (Col., Carabidae) to arid environments. Journal of Arid Environments 9: 210–214.

This tribe has such interesting and beautiful beetles. Graphipterus is cute (with the velcro sound it makes while running) and one of my favorite carabids.
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Bekuwa 02 may have some info on Manticora, i think ? page 100, but in japanese

 
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Hi All - I'm relatively new to beetles and this is my first post to the group.

I think I may have managed to get my Manticora sp. to get as far as egg laying. The enclosure was prepared by adding about 12" sandy loam, compacting firmly and completely saturating with water. This was left for a month to dry out completely before adding assorted hides and a pair of beetles. They were fed an adult cricket each by forceps every 2-3 days. Mating was regular and pretty furious. They were kept in these conditions (bone dry) for about 10 weeks.

The enclosure was flooded last week to a depth of 1-2" above the compacted substrate - enough to lift the beetles well clear of the ground. It was allowed to soak in and further water added over the course of the evening until the sub looked evenly moist. General behaviour seemed similar but somehow less fervid over the past week.

Last night I found evidence of some major excavation and the female was nowhere to be seen, so hopefully laying eggs.

Just have to hope the substrate is of suitable consistency to allow tunnel construction by the larvae.

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.

Ta
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