Mac’s Web Log

Remember back in mid-September I wrote an article about raising some scarab beetle’s larvae.

Because it is too difficult to determine what beetle they will become, and also because I wanna give it a try, hence I started to raise them in small plastic bowls.

Erectly one month ago (15th Oct), while I was changing the soil I discovered something strange. I didn’t know what they were and they looked like harden soil. So I try to poke it with chopsticks but it won’t break open. Even after I submerge it in water, it stayed intact.

I thought, maybe the larvae were dead inside but I don’t want to throw it away. So I put them back into the container hoping for miracle.

Now 2 months after I receive the larvae, 2 of the 11 larvae hatched yesterday. (p.s. I found one dead during the last soil change and one again this time, so there are only 9 left)

I found one crawling on the surface of the container trying to come out (but container was covered with plastic lid) and another one still inside its pupal case. So I put the new beetle together with the old purple-colored scarab beetle and the two pupal cases (one empty) into the house. Who knows after less than 30 minutes when I went back to check on the pupal cases, both are empty!!!

So there you go, 2 newly born scarab beetles

Like the purple scarab beetle, although color is different, but this also comes from the Protaetia family. I can’t tell which specific species this is though.

This is totally a coincidence I must say.

Yesterday morning before I leave for Academia Sinica, my mom told me to go to the wet market to check if the person selling umbrella was there or not. After I went round the market can’t found the seller. Well, I should go to the bus stop. On the way near the entrance of the market, a wooden piece of something caught my eye and I thought: that looks like the wooden platform that holds beetle jelly.

I backtrack a little, and bing-bong! Someone is selling stag beetles Lucky me!

I ask the selling how much is it, and she said $50. I thought: that’s not too bad. Shops have been selling these for like $50 ~ $100 at least. While I was thinking if I should buy one, they lady offer to sell me for $30. OK, this is too cheap to resist.

So… Da-da… Let’s welcome Neolucanus swinhoei Bates (紅圓翅鍬形蟲)

With flash light

Close up head-shot

My mom went to a two-day trip in 太平山 during weekend and brought back a tiny stag beetle that I believed is called Aegus laericollis formosae bates (台灣肥角鍬形蟲), a native beetle that are found in Taiwan. Mom said she found it on under a tree near the B&B they were staying for the night. Maybe because it has been stepped or something, it soon died this afternoon.

We all think it is very lucky to have found it, especially after Odontolabis siva passed away a couple of days ago. Too bad it can’t stay with us a little longer.

Took this the night my mom come back from her trip