International Insect Fair in Frankfurt – November 2-3, 2019

Last weekend was the international insect fair in Frankfurt am Main, in Germany. It is one of the biggest insect fairs, with a heavy focus on specimen, and to a much lesser content living invertebrates. That said, it has always been a major event, and the sheer amount of insects, common and rare, never fail to amaze.

Insect specimen at Frankfurt Insect Fair

I had not visited it for ten years, but this year took the opportunity to take a long drive and visit again. Last time I visited, it always had some extra free tables and was not fully booked. This year though,  every space was solidly booked, and it was good to see that the hobby still seems alive. The footfall seemed a bit lower than in the past, but that might be my impression only.

For livestock beetles, there was not too much on offer, but a good range of Cetonidae was offered by various Belgian, Czech and German breeders. Some highlights included Eudicella frontalis, which have just become established in breeding last year. This is a fascinating, relatively large species (up to 5cm for the males), with a most amazing green and yellow coloration. The horn is more spoon-shaped and a very faint glowing orange. I hope they will be maintained by breeders. I had eight larvae and seven hatched into males, all the pressure is now on that one female. Another good find was Trichaulax macleayi from Australia. These orange fuzzy bugs have been around for some time now, but I did not have them in my breeding room for over 15 years. That changed now. Also, a lot of more common species were offered, such as different Dicranorrhina species, such as the real D. conradsi, D. derbyana and D. oberthueri. There were also Pachnoda iskuulka on offer, a relatively new species in breeding as well, that prefers warmer temperature. And, even better, a pair of Coptolabus (Carabus) smaragdinus, and F1 pair. Good to see there are some Carabidae breeders around us.

Eudicella frontalis male

Fall is also the season of beetles in Cameroon, so it was good to see that there were pairs of Homoderus mellyi and Prosopocoilus senegalensis on offer. I got a few and hope to be able to breed them. There were also Tmesorrhina alpestris and Pseudinca dichroa. These are harder to breed and hence not established in breeding. Let’s see if this can be changed.
It was also good to see that mantids and phasmids seem to have been well represented, as well as the ever more popular isopods. There were also a few sellers for Lepidoptera, with some interesting species such as Acias aliena or Morpho ssp.

With regards to deadstock, it was fascinating to see so many and rarely seen species on display. Some sad realization however was that many habitats keep disappearing, which can be seen in the age of some specimen. All Goliathus cacicus on offer had been collected more than 20 years back. I think this is a direct result of the ever-increasing Cocoa-plantations in Ivory Coast, and the resulting deforestation, which leaves many of the former common species without habitat and future. If anyone manages to find Goliathus cacicus alive, it would be very recommendable that a zoo or public institution starts a program for captive reproduction. Otherwise, this might be it for the species, if they are not extinct already.  In addition, probably the only ones even aware of this problem and big species becoming extinct is the insect collectors and locals who live in the forest. Sometimes I wish Invertebrates had the same public attention and care like birds and mammals. Also, because a captive breeding program can be established much easier and with lesser risk.

Concerning other species, have a look at the pictures. If you can attend the next one, I would strongly suggest that. Very few places where one can marvel at the diversity of insects in one place.