Pleasing fungus beetle diet

Z

Zephyr

L3
I've collected about 15 adult pleasing fungus beetles (not sure what species as of yet) and was wondering if anyone has had success breeding them on anything but shelf fungi (such as commonly available store-bought mushrooms as a substitute.)

 
Usually when I've found them it's been in association with the shelf fungus, so I've never used store-bought.

I'd love to see a photo of your species. Here are two photos I took in AZ last summer:

az09erotylidae3.jpg


az09erotylidae4.jpg


 
Last edited by a moderator:
The species I have is Megalodacne fasciata; I put some weird mushrooms I bought as a gag a few months ago in with them and they don't seem to be paying much attention to them; I'll probably head over to the store again and pick up some shelf-fungi looking ones.

 
I did a Google search to see your species and the first link popped up the following info.

"Larval Hosts: Larvae feed in bracket fungi (Ganoderma spp.)"

( http://www.texasento.net/Megalodacne.htm )

I may be wrong, but I suspect your hike through the produce section at the grocery store will fail to yield a suitable fungus. A hike through a local park should prove more fruitful.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, I've found some weird 'shrooms at the local Chinese store (they're quite tasty actually lol) and the beetles seem to be nibbling on them; hopefully I'll have babies soon!

 
I'm excited to know if it all works out for you. I've seen some swarming masses of these larvae on fungi and it's quite a sight to behold!

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