Bess Beetle Rearing

[Stylopidae]

This summer, I will be working with a professor who is interested in rearing Bess beetles (Odontotaenius sp) to examine their social behavior.

I have access to previous attempts to create rearing protocols, but would like to cross-refrence this information with hobbiest attempts because I think it will be helpful. There are a few previous threads, but some details are lacking.

In particular, I am looking for rearing setups, how the grubs were handled, how they died (descriptions of any dead larvae), habitat descriptions including numbers of cohabitating pairs, mating behavior if observed, etc.

 

[What]

iirc, bess beetle larvae *need* the adults to have a decent chance at surviving...

I would suggest getting a pair and a few of their grubs out of the same log, and putting them in a rubbermade w/ some of the wood(and maybe some protein source), then leave them alone completely in the dark with plenty of moisture in the box.

 

[BeetleExperienc]

Cheshire,

Like Kevin said - that larvae don't seem to do well on their own. Also, O.d. like to make tunnels that they reuse; some of which would take them down to where the larvae are, so if these tunnels are destroyed (by digging) the larvae will likely die.

Two options that I can think of

1. Probably the most common setup that works would be to set them up in a container and leave them alone for months and just check on the humidity level once in a while (no digging).

-- This probably wouldn't help you since you are trying to study them, so (and I've always wanted to try this)...

2. Construct, basically, a large version of an "ant farm". You would need to have sides, or some kind of covers that you could use to block any light from getting into their tunnels (then remove the sides to view them, maybe under a red or yellow light - any other light seems to bother them too). This should allow you a MUCH better "window" into their habits. I don't think anyone could study any kind of behavioral patterns with any other type of setup.

I always seem to find the larvae living together in one area of any given rotten log - with the tunnels from the adults branching off; some leading to the outside where you often see their small debris piles.

Their eggs are really strange: about the size of Dynastes tityus eggs but brown:
http://beetle-experience.com/gal-bess-5l.htm

I have tried to relocate whole families into captivity before, but the larvae always seem to die. Seems like you have to setup some adults and let them start a family in your container. Also, the pupae are super delicate - always seem to accidently kill them if I move them around.

Hope this helps..

Steven

 

[Stylopidae]

I was given an article from the Coleopterist's bulletin where someone successfully reared them. Turns out they're very sensitive to disturbance, the slightest disturbance will make attempts to rear them unsuccessful.

Basically, to rear them you need to get the adults to colonize a rotten log. If you cut the log into sections, and tie it together with rubber bands, you can observe the larvae as long as you put it back together. The wood needs to be at least two years dead, and the softer the better. Whole logs are apparently what's needed for them to colonize.

These beetles are sub-social; this differs from eusocial in that the siblings don't stick around to rear their brothers and sisters to adulthood...they merely construct pupal cases for the remaining siblings and then leave.

Rumor has it that they rely on a symbiotic fungus living in their gut to digest wood. I have not seen any microscopy to back this up, but the literature seems pretty settled so that work could exist without me being aware of it (Passalidae doesn't exactly have an impressive body of literature). The young feed on the frass of the adults, and the teneral siblings get the endosymbionts from the adults.

I'm probably just going to set up a rotbox to prepare wood for colonization...unfortunately, I doubt I'll actually get to participate in this project because I'm only working in this lab until August and am working on several other projects (including Strepsiptera/Polistes interactions) in the meantime.

Thanks for the help, guys...I appreciate it. I can give references if y'all want and can see if I can't pull up a PDF next time I have access to the facility's subscription and send it on.

 

[ZephAmp]

Keep them moist.
I had a few adults who laid in eggs in rotting boxelder wood, but things dried out too quickly and the adults and larvae died.

 

[Scythemantis]

I once collected dozens of larvae and adults with some large sections of log, preserving many tunnels they had constructed and keeping them in the dark with high humidity. All larvae died within a week :/

 

[Myermercologist]

i wanted to take a break of ant keeping so im trying bess beetles how do i breed them?