Arquivos de periódicos de dezembro 2020

25 de dezembro de 2020

Carpet Beetle

On the 28th of november I found this beetle larva in my bathroom:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65890231
I searched a bit and found out it was part of the Dermestidae family. I believe it is an Anthrenus sp. larva, but so far no one has identified my observation.
Either way, knowing what it could be I couldn't leave it in my bathroom, as it would probably end up dead, and I couldn't release it either, because it would probably not make it outside. So, on the 29th, I caught it, photographed it and placed it in a glass Tupperware.
Wikipedia said these larvae like keratin and chitin, so I provided, but I also found information stating it could ruin furniture and thought that maybe they would like other things to eat.

This part may be somewhat upsetting so I'm going to place a TRIGGER WARNING here for nasty stuff.

Inside the Tupperware I placed some shredded toilet paper, to act as "substract" and also in case it liked to eat paper. I also placed part of an egg carton, for habitat structure and climbing.
Then I added a little bit of dirt from one of my potted plants, in case the larva liked it. This ended up adding other arthropods to the habitat, as you can see here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66026985
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66026983
The food came next and I went for a broad menu, so I placed a lot of stuff (again, NASTY): Human hair, both head and body; boogers; finger nails; skin crusts; dandruff and cookie crumbs.

The larva has been eating, as I've seen droppings pile up behind it sometimes, looking like a fine powder. I believe it likes the finger nails best, but also the cookie crumbs(?).
It has been growing slowly, looks fatter now than when I first got it, but it's a bit hard to measure - it is about 5 mm long.

This post was first and foremost to explain the situation and document the process, but also to ask for help identifying the species. I would like to know what instar the larva's at right now, when it will pupate and for how long, as I inted to keep it until it reaches adult stage and then release it (I do not have the means to sustain an adult beetle, or to keep it as a collected specimen).

If you read all the way down, thank you very much and Happy Holidays!

EDIT UPDATE:

About 3 months have passed since I caught this Carpet beetle larva. The specimen is now in an advanced pupa state and the colors of the adult can already be identified. I'm hoping to get an adult soon
Here's the observation for the pupa:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/70767659
I didn't take proper pictures of the earlier stages of pupa, only some blurry shots with my cellphone.

Posted on 25 de dezembro de 2020, 12:49 PM by tiagojrc tiagojrc | 2 observações | 0 comentários | Deixar um comentário

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