It is surprising how little is known about the rearing of Rutelinidae. The most likely Rutelinidae people might have reared, is probably an Asian Anomala species. The American continent has quite a few beautiful species that are more than worthy our attention. Today, I would like to describe my experiences with the North American species Chrysina […]
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Dorcus wickhami – an interesting species
For a long time I was hoping to be able to get my hands on the beautiful and small species Dorcus wickhami. They originate from Australia, and as thus are very hard to come by. Even specimen are not so easy to find. This, to my knowledge, is the only species of the genus Dorcus […]
READ MORE »Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report – Part 1: The substrat
This article has been migrated from my old pages, and I will update it, once the migration is over. Luckily there have been a few advances in breeding of Dynastes, even so the basic principles remain the same. I guess there are already many breeding reports for this species, so one might ask, why another […]
READ MORE »Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report – Part 3: Larval maintenance
Keeping the larvae together is possible, but the containers usually are too big, because you need about 10 litre. substrate per larvae. Although the larvae do not seem cannibalistic, sometimes they hurt each other. This usually happens during the moulting process, when the larvae is soft and vulnerable. Because I am one of those persons, […]
READ MORE »Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report – Part 4: Maintaining imagines
After Hatching of the imagos, it takes some time for them to mate. As sometimes males are very aggressive and even attack the females, I would suggest keeping them separated for some time (1 to 6 weeks, whatever, depending on the case) If mating should not work out after that time, you could try a […]
READ MORE »Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report – Part 5: Tips for bigger imagines
1. As I mentioned before horse dung should lead to good sizes in Imagos. I mixed in about ten percent of dung to some of my larvae, but I think it should be more to get recognizable results. 2. Always change your substrate before it is all eaten up. Too late change of substrate and […]
READ MORE »Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report – Part 6: Subspecies
At the time I originally wrote the breeding report, there have been only 7 subspecies of Dynastes hercules. Nowadays, I lost track on how many have been added, but will hopefully find the time to read that up. Subspecies in Dynastes hercules can be differentiated by the form of the horns in the males and […]
READ MORE »Dynastes hercules breeding and keeping report – Part 7: Weight scales and conclusions
This is old data, but nonetheless valid. Should I start breeding Dynastes hercules again, I would make sure to record the data for the larvae. Or even better, if you have data of your larvae, and want to share it, here would be the perfect place. I am giving you the weights of the larvae, […]
READ MORE »Head and Mandible variations in Lucanus cervus cervus
(Pictures taken in the Museum of Natural History in Aschaffenburg) All collectors, as well as breeders, are aware that the size of beetles in breeding as well as in nature varies greatly. In this context, Lucanidae are of special interest, as with the size of the males the size and look of the head and […]
READ MORE »Head and Mandible variations in Lucanus maculifemoratus maculifemoratus from Japan
All collectors, as well as breeders, are aware that the size of beetles in breeding as well as in nature varies greatly. In this context, Lucanidae are of special interest, as with the size of the males the size and look of the head and mandibles also changes. In the wild, the extremely large and […]
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