I accidentally killed one because it squeezed itself into a tight end of the bag and got squished until the juice came out. Not sure how it died, given that I was careful not to pinch the tight ends, but now I know not to carry squishy insects in non-rigid containers. Really need to reduce the death rate, it makes me feel bad and also can be problematic for practical reasons when target insects occur at low population densities. Anyways, the survivors fed on a sunflower bush's sunflower and stayed on it for at least a while, on the other hand one I put on a yarrow tried to probe it but quickly gave up and flew away.
Of note is that P. moerens has high dispersal ability and can fly large distances from suitable reproductive hosts (undoubtedly aided by an ability to consume nectar from nutritionally inadequate secondary hosts) and that P. verticalis doesn't normally if ever occur in urban/suburban native plantings. Maybe this is like how Oncopeltus has a tendency to unwittingly fly over small patches of milkweed? Or if we're going to be pessimistic maybe the artificial native gardens simply don't have the right living conditions.
Hey C, I've been following your blog for a bit and I really enjoy your work on breeding and rearing obscurer species, and your scientific analysis into their behavior/reproductive biology. I know you are tired of insects in general, but I was wondering if you had any input in the rearing of flea beetles (Alticini)? I have successfully bred a couple species in a 32 oz deli container with a bit of moist coconut fiber for the hostplant's rooting, which has worked well. I'm just stumped as to where to go from this point, as beetle larvae can be tricky.
ReplyDeleteHiii! Do I know you from somewhere?
DeleteAlso no worries, I'm more than glad to give advice, the "tired" part is more about "tired of doing ento stuff of my own" as opposed to talking about it.
A lot of Alticini dig chambers in the soil and then pupate inside, but I'm too lazy to see whether all members of the tribe do that. Your damp coconut fiber should do for that purpose, I suppose (try other substrates if the prepupae act like they hate it or if the chambers implode) but if they turn out to be a species that pupates aerially you're in luck I guess.
If you know the species and search "___ rearing" on Google Scholar a useful result is likely to come up for the genus, if not the species. I use Scholar a lot for this purpose.
I don't think you know me, I haven't really been talking actively in entomological spaces, but I have been casually observing multiple blogs for a while now, including this one. I have seen activity from larvae from Strawberry Rootworm (Paria fragariae), as they moved to the roots of my Virginia Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), and have been presumably feeding on root hairs. Although they aren't a member of Alticini, I presume they have similar behaviors for feeding. One species that has been very successful for me is Psylliodes affinis, which has given me many eggs, and I presume some larvae have hatched. All that I think is needed now is to wait.
DeleteGood luck I guess!
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