Found a couple of these guys a few weeks ago and have been obsessing ever since. After 1000+ thistle plants, I finally got enough yesterday for a reasonable colony attempt. The other one is Euphoria sepulcralis.
Maybe this is common knowledge to some of you, but my Pasimachus californicus REALLY like fruit. They have constant access to water. I had never thought to offer it to them before.
Left to right; Calosoma externum , Calosoma wilcoxi , and Calosoma scrutator. There are also a couple C. sayi and a single C. marginale in there, but didn't want their photos taken.
As you can see, they do seem to enjoy fruit.
So...
What are folks current thoughts on these guys in terms of breeding and egg laying in captivity? I know a lot of us here have probably kept them. I've kept them half-heartedly in the past, losing interest after a few days to a few weeks and setting them free. Anyone really tried to get a...
Lousy photo, I know - all I have to work with is an iphone these days. I'd seen large grubs under manure on a few occasions, which I figured must be this species, and it was great to finally see an adult for confirmation.
I know there are some KS beetle folks here - anyone else in the Wichita area interested in some blacklighting trips through the summer? I bought an array last winter and used it for the firt time last night with some interesting results. I'm going to be trying to hit more timbered, easterly...
So here's something some of you might find interesting.
While out roadcruising a few weeks ago, I collected several Eleodes suturalis and hispilabris. I also collected what I thought at first to be the most enormous suturalis I'd ever seen. While all the other suturalis I was catching were...
Getting a little cabin fever here in the frigid Great Plains...
I decided to dig up my 2.5g Eleodes terrarium to see just how many larvae were in there and how they looked. I had originally kept 5 different Eleodes sp. in there at one point or another through spring/summer and I knew several...
Found this grub out today in central Kansas in open prairie/rangeland under a pile of old cow dung. I saw tons of other grubs of similar morphology, but this one was a good 10-20 times larger than any others. Any ideas what I have here?
Three-Ridged Darkling Beetles, Eleodes tricostata munching on cat kibble and oatmeal.
And these guys...not sure what they are. They look a lot like the Coelocnemis I used to catch in SoCal, but are far smaller. Has to be an Eleodes of some kind...
Ornate Diving Beetle - Thermonectus ornaticollis
Love these guys...extremely active, very colorful. The camera doesn't quite capture the
contrasting red of the legs.
Intermediate Diving Beetle - Thermonectus intermedius
These are relatively new to me, and the ID is tentative. Kansas is...