Mecynorrhina torquata ugandensis colour variations

Mecynorrhina torquata ugandensis is a big if not huge flower beetle. These beetles can grow over 80 mm, which is as big as a medium size goliath beetle. Geographically they can be found in  Uganda and DR Congo. In nature these beetles display a massive variety in their colours and patterns. Because of such variation, the dead specimen of the males of the species are very sought after by insect collectors, and some of them can be sold for as much as fifty pounds or even more (which mainly depends on the size and the rarity of colour variation/pattern of the specimen).  These species are great as pets, because they are quite easy: the adults are perfectly fine on ripe banana and their larvae can be easily raised on any decayed wood/leaf material.  Their cultivation led to appearance of some unusual forms such as "blue" colour variation, which I believe was "selected out" by Japanese breeders and now it is probably the most popular colour form present in culture.  In captivity, unless under certain conditions, the size of the males is normally within 50-65 mm, and the whole cycle from an egg to the adult at 25C can be completed as fast as in 8-10 months, which again makes them amazing pets, when the whole cycle of the beetle development can be observed within such short period.  I have been keeping a significant number of these beetles during recent years and despite the fact that their larvae consume a huge amount of the substrate during their development, they still are probably one of my favourite beetles. Here is a short slide show which I made from photos of my Mecynorrhina torquata ugandensis which I found on my flickr, phone and computer.

 

Please contact me at beetlesaspets@gmail.com regarding any related issue or availability of the larvae of these species.

Beware! Stag beetle larvae predator: click beetle larva!

Good decayed log is a must for most stag beetles if you want to achieve a maximum number of larvae from your stag beetle female. The majority of females would always prefer to lay their eggs into the log instead of laying them into a layer of compacted substrate. If you collect your log from the woodland, there is always a chance that other critters will be living in it. General recommendation to get rid of these is to soak the log in the water for about three days. However, I found that  is often not enough to kill all of them. Thicker logs take more than a week for water to completely soak through the whole log. The other way to destroy things in the log is to heat it, which is often not very convenient. Low temperature long time dry log baking in  a family kitchen oven can be tricky:) More recently I adapted the way of preparing logs by sawing them into shorter sections, so they could just fit into a microwave. Using a microwave 15cm-diameter log can be heated through completely in two 4-5 minutes steps with very little effort. The time needs to be increased for bigger logs.

In my earlier breeding experience, I often would use decayed logs with only short term soaking in water or even without any preparation and most of them would work fine. However, on a number of occasions I discovered that the number of larvae obtained from stag beetle female is smaller than expected and at the same time I found some other beetle larvae in these logs.  Although  many critters such as longhorn beetle larvae are completely safe for the stag beetle larvae, the other critters may not be as safe. Particularly, and I learned it in a hard way, click beetle larvae can hunt and eat stag beetle larvae. And this is not an assumption, while splitting logs when looking for larvae I found click beetle larva eating still semi-alive stag beetle larva. Moreover, if you use chunk of such wood as a decorative top piece in breeding box for any sort of beetle such as rhino or flower beetle, the click beetle larvae can come out of the wood and live in the soil hunting newborn larvae or eating freshly laid eggs. Here are some photos and video of a typical click beetle larva which, hope that you will find it helpful. If you see anything like that in your wood/substrate remove it and sterilize substrate/log by heating it.

Identification of the larvae of common European Lucanidae

There are just a few species of the beetles of Lucanidae family found in Europe, with the biggest one being European stag beetle, Lucanus cervus cervus. The species of this family which can be found in the United Kingdom are Sinodendron cylindricum (sometimes called Least Stag Beetle), Platycerus caraboides and Dorcus parallelipipedus (Lesser Stag Beetle). Apart from the European and lesser stag beetles, the other two do not look much as stag beetles since their males do not develop impressive mandibles. Although the larvae of the Lucanus cervus is considered polyphagous and often found feeding on decaying roots of garden trees or rotting fence posts, their typical food source is normally associated with decayed wood of hardwood trees such as oak or beech. Despite the fact that the stag beetle's larvae occasionally found above the ground, e.g inside of heaps of decayed woodchips,  their larvae is usually live underground in their natural habitat. Similarly, sinodendron cylindricum larvae is also usually found in decayed oak or beech wood.  In contrast the lesser stag beetle larvae also can be found in decayed wood of various deciduous trees, often in logs above the ground and often in big numbers. In our South London area I often find these inside of decayed poplar logs above the ground, and normally adults beetles can be found in the same rotten log with the larvae. 

The least stag beetle, Sinodendron cylindricum, despite that it belongs to the lucanidae family, looks more like a rhino beetle.  The photo shows a (dead) female of the species which was found in Mitcham park in South London.

The lesser stag beetle, Dorcus parallelipipedus male looks as a smaller version of the minor male of lucanus cervus cervus.

Obviously it always interesting to know what lucanidae species is the larvae that you found.  However, because the larvae (particularly the smaller one) of all lucanidae look pretty much the same, it is very difficult to determine to which species the larvae belong to. This is particularly applicable for the dorcus parallelipipedus and lucanus cervus cervus, as the late L3 larvae of the DP could be as big as early to mid L3 larvae of the LCC. Considering the fact that DP is an abundant widespread species and normally live in the same areas as LCC this could be quite an issue.  However, apparently it is still possible to identify the larvae of the common UK's lucanidae by comparing the shape of their last (terminal) segments. Here I came across the diagram published by T.E. Leiler in 1950 which could be useful:)

The diagram below shows the caudal and ventral view of the last segments of common lucanidae larvae

Leiler, T.E. (1950) Bestimmungstabelle der schwedischen Lucanidenlarven (Coleoptera). Opuscula Entomologica, 15, 157–160. 

Contact email:  beetlesaspets@gmail.com

The rainbow stag beetle, Phalacrognathus Muelleri, care sheet

  
Adults

Temperature ~23-28C. 
Humidity: High. 
Can be kept in small containers, if no breeding is required. If you  keep your beetles in small containers, better to keep them individually or at least in pairs, male and female.  The aggressive males will kill other males and the same thing may happen with females: aggressive females may kill other females in a very small enclosure.  For big groups it is better  to keep them in large containers with lots of hiding places created by placing pieces of wood or bark on the top of the soil. The beetles spend most of the day time hiding underground, and often become more active in low light conditions. They will escape if they have a chance, so the box should be kept tightly closed, and a few pen-size holes need to be provided in the lid or the top part in the side of the container for better air circulation.

They feed well on banana or other ripe sweet fruits or beetle jelly.  They seem to like banana more, perhaps due to a high protein content. Some breeders believe that adults of these species require a lots of protein and add some yogurt into the mashed banana.  I feed them with my home-made beetle jelly (http://beetlesaspets.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/jelly-for-tropical-beetles-at-home.html).  

Breeding 

     Initially I had a massive issue with mating my first rainbows. They were placed into a properly organised large container designed for egg laying and after six months of waiting I discovered no eggs:(.  After several discussions on forums I came to the conclusion that the major male (with massive horns), could not simply catch the females which were normally hiding underground. The solution was to place them in a small enclosure with no hiding places and provide food in one spot.  Male normally feeds and guards the food at the same time, so catching hungry female for him was not a problem in the small box. Egg laying setup is pretty much the same as for many stag beetles: decayed oak or beech log partially buried into garden soil or mulched wood. The female burrows the hole inside of the log and deposits eggs, simultaneously filling the hole with mulched wood and with parts of the substrate. If mulched wood or fermented flakes are used to fill the box, the female may lay eggs in the substrate too, normally in the bottom layer. If there is more than one female in the container, they may clean up each others holes to lays their own eggs. After about 3 months logs are carefully split with a knife or a screwdriver and the larvae are removed. Eggs can also be removed and placed in the tubs filled with the larvae substrate. 


Larvae

Mulched white rotten oak will be sufficient to produce minor healthy adults. However, to grow major adults, good quality fermented wood or even better, kinshi substrate, are required. I found the procedure making kinshi a bit disappointing,  as every 3rd tub I made with kinshi was contaminated, and the procedure itself was rather time- and resource-consuming. Some hobbyists use dog food as a supplement to grow bigger larvae, but I did not like this approach, as it attracts parasitic mites. In the late L3 stage the larvae  will create the pupal chamber and transform to the pupa. I found that the rate of survival of the pupa is much higher if pupa is transferred into the artificial pupa container, which I normally make from floral foam. After beetles come out of the pupa, they will stay in their  cells inactive for a couple of weeks and then they will be ready to mate again.

homemade kinshi

To see more photos of beetles, please visit my flickr page at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/radio_ga_ga/

You can also contact me via beetlesaspets@gmail.com regarding any related issue and availability of these beetles.

Sexing flower beetle (cetoniidae) larvae

Sexing flower beetle (cetoniidae) larvae, such as mecynorrhina ugandensis, protaetia or goliathus is not very difficult, however, requires some practice. It is much easier when larvae are reaching their third (L3 stage). In smaller larvae, such as at their L2 larval stage, finding the "right spot" is quite difficult because of their size and because of their mobility:  small larvae are normally very active:) With some practice anyone can do it. Determining the sex of the larvae by the size of its head capsule is not reliable, simply because the smaller larvae of the same age will have the smaller head capsule, irrespectively whether it's male or female.  It is best to see it in larvae which are clean of dirt and debris. On the bottom (ventral) side approximately in the middle of the last abdomenal segment in males of cetoniidae there is a small black slit/spot which is a part of  such-called "Harold's organ" (please see the photo of the L3 male larvae of the Mecynorrhina ugandensis, on the left). The spot may often look like as a hair root spot, apart there would not be any hair growing from it. The bigger larva is the bigger the size of the spot will be. That's why it is more easier to determine the sex of bigger larvae, which also normally less mobile than smaller larvae. Females (photo on right) do not have such black spot.