Insect Fair in Kloten – September 28, 2019 - Ben's Beetle Breeding Pages

A bit late for a report, but hey, insect images are always great, so here we go. The insect fair in Kloten, Zurich, Switzerland is a smaller fair, but draws a good number of visitors. I had attended last year’s fair, but not written about it afterwards, after a break of 5 years, due to living in the US.

What struck me last year, as well as this year, was that the typical audience has changed quite a bit. Instead of somewhat older people focusing on collecting insect specimen, the visitors are now much more mixed and younger, and more focused on living insects and invertebrates. This is also reflected by the sellers, and there were many more this year selling living insects and invertebrates. There was a good selection of tarantulas, woodlice, millipedes, scorpions and the like, representing the non-insect invertebrates, even a pair of the true Scolopendra galapagoensis. With insects, even more diversity, with the usual focus on mantids, phasmids and some beetles. There was a good selection of Cetonidae, with Mecynorhina torquata ugandensis in the lead, but also Dicronorrhina derbyana derbyana and Dicronorrhina micans, as well as several other smaller species, like Eudicella ssp. and Pachnoda marginata. With regards to Lucanidae, there was a good selection, with Phalacrognathus muelleri, Prosopocoilus giraffa keisukei, Lamprima adolphinae.

View of the insect fair in Kloten, Switzerland 2019

I had brought in a few Lucanidae larvae, and enjoyed talking to so many hobbyists, especially seeing the excitement of the many children was very cool. I used to be a bit pessimistic about the future of the hobby for several years, but if this trend continues, it will be great. It was also good to see that parents were quite open and supportive to their kids’ interest. Also not so common nowadays.

Concerning deadstock, this was also interesting, lots of interesting and some rare Lepidoptera, and I also managed to find some nice beetle specimen for my collection.
The next fair that I will be attending is Frankfurt and I am looking forward to that.
Enjoy the images, and hope to see you next year at the one and only Swiss insect fair in Kloten.