Bombadier Ants Guest Beetle (Cerapterus lacerates)

Family Carabidae

 These are smallish beetles with a body length of just over 1cm and identified by the flattened, squarish antaenna.

 If molested, it sprays quinine-containing gas in explosive bursts.

Addo Flightless Dung Beetle (Circellium bacchus)

Family Scarabaeidae

The flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) is a species of dung beetle endemic to a few areas of South Africa, including the Addo Elephant National Park and the Buffalo Valley Game Farm. It is the only species in the genus Circellium.

The species was originally widespread in Southern Africa, but it only survives in the few areas mentioned above; as such, it qualifies as an IUCN vulnerable species.

Its vulnerability is exacerbated by a number of other factors, including the fact that its habitat is under threat by agriculture and human activity, that is has low breeding capacity as well as low dispersability (as a consequence of being flightless), and that its survival is strictly dependent on a number of vertebrates (particularly elephant and buffalo) that are also experiencing a decrease in population.

The flightless dung beetles mostly feed on elephant or buffalo faeces, but they have been recorded to also feed on dung from other species such as rabbits, baboons, antelopes, and ostriches.

Info:

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flightless_dung_beetle}

Gold-haired Fruit Chafer (Xeloma tomentosa) Scarabaeidae

Gold-haired Fruit Chafer (Xeloma tomentosa)

 These are smallish beetles and identified by the dense golden hairs and brown and yellow markings.

 Mostly they can be found in the north and north-eastern parts of SA.

 The adults feed on flowers including sunflowers. This one below looks like it was having a snooze. :)

Yellow Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) Tenebrionidae

Ever since I started bringing home mantis, chameleons and other predatory species in order to take better pictures of them, I have had to breed Mealworms to feed them. Surprisingly enough they are very easy to rear and this is done with easy and the minimum amount of fuss. The mealworm is not a worm; it is a larva. Any similarity to a true worm is incidental. mealworm larvae are golden yellow and have 13 segments—a head, three thoracic segments, and nine abdominal segments Mealworm larvae are the counterpart of the familiar caterpillar in the butterfly story. They pull themselves around on six stubby legs, one pair on each thoracic segment. Mealworms are the larval stage of Darkling (aka Tenebrio) beetles. Beetles, along with all their other insect kin (true bugs, flies, bees, wasps, ants, on and on), are members of the phylum Arthropoda, a word meaning jointed legs. Like all members of their phylum, insects wear their skeleton on the outside like a suit of armor. This is practical when they are under attack, but very inconvenient when they are trying to grow. Arthropods solved this problem by molting (shedding) this outer shell-like cuticle periodically. Immediately following the molt, the soft white larva expands before the new larger cuticle hardens. For mealworms this process repeats five times over a 2-month period, after which the larva is about 3 cm long. The final larval molt reveals the next stage, the pupa.

Life cycle Darkling beetles follow a life history known as complete metamorphosis. Like butterflies and moths, they go through four distinct stages during their life cycle. A female beetle lays eggs, as many as 500 in her brief lifetime of a month or two. The eggs are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. After a couple of weeks the equally tiny larvae emerge from the eggs. The larvae are known as mealworms, but of course they are not true worms. The larvae are golden yellow and have 12 body segments. They are the counterpart of the familiar caterpillar in the butterfly story. Mealworms pull themselves around on six stubby legs that are all crowded at the front.

The larvae seem to have two purposes in life: eat and grow. Beetles are arthropods, and like all members of their phylum they wear their skeleton on the outside like a suit of armor. This is very practical when they are being attacked, but very inconvenient when they are trying to grow. The arthropods have solved this problem by shedding (molting) their shell periodically. Immediately following the molt the soft, white larvae expand before the new larger shell hardens. This process may repeat half a dozen or more times over a 3-month period, after which time the larvae are about 2 cm (3/4″) long. The final larval molt reveals the next stage, the pupa.

The pupae don’t eat and they don’t move except for a twitch or two when disturbed. Inside, however, the mealworm is turning into a beetle, much the same as a caterpillar turns into a butterfly while sequestered inside the chrysalis. In 2 or 3 weeks the pupa splits open and out walks a beetle, white at first, but soon turning to brown and finally black after a day. The beetles mate and lay eggs, and the cycle repeats.

Information supplied by: http://www.mealworms.co.za/mealworms/

Milkweed Leaf Beetle Platycorynus dejeani Chrysomelidae

This is a leaf eating beetle of the Chrysomelidae family and has to be one of the prettiest we have.
It is small, maybe ½ an inch in body length and the difference in color between males and females can clearly be seen in this mating pair.

Besides adults eating leaves and flowers, larvae bore into stems and roots.

In one of my reference books it holds a dubious record……

….during research, it was found that the female of this species mated with various males a record of 60 times.!! LOL!! I wonder who was doing the counting? :)

Lily Weevil Brachycerus labrusca Curculionidae

Small and cute!
As you can see in the picture above, this is quite a small specimen but I have seen them at about 1 1/2 inches in body length.

Not very pretty, but kind of cute.

Large Green Fruit Chafer (Dicronorrhina derbyana) Scarabaeidae

Going outside, this Fruit Chafer landed at my feet. Its colors are amazing.
It is about and inch in body length and when it opens its wings to fly, they are a dark blue, almost black.

The underside is almost as pretty as its top side.

Hister Beetle (Macrolister latipes) Histeridae

Another scary-looking one but luckily he is only about 1 inch in length.

Marble Fuit Chafer Beetle Porphyronota hebreae Scarabaeidae

Ted my good friend from Beetles In The Bush was spot on with this one. Congrats!! :)

This is quite a large fellow, about 1 inch in length and I am sure he will have no problem hiding from predators with these colors.
They also belong to the Scarab beetle family and are found in subtropical areas.

Beetle Heart Beetle (Pedinorrhina trivittata) Scarabaeidae

For all you intrepid travelers out there, Jose has posted the most wonderful pictures of his trip to Igauzu Falls in Argentina.

Two perfect hearts. It is a small beetle, about half an inch in length.

  I have heard about people wearing their hearts on their sleeves but never on their backs. :)

Close-up of a Plum Dung Beetle (Anachalcos convexus) Scarabaeidae

The Plum Dung Beetle (Anachalcos convexus) are large and nocturnal feeding off carrion as well as dung.
Males and females jointly roll balls of dung away from the scource, burying them in shallow burrows.

After and egg is laid in the first brood ball, several balls are introduced into the nest.

Females, sometimes accompanied by males, care for the young until they emerge as adults.

Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Platycorynus dejeani) Chrysomelidae

I unfortunately only got one shot of this metallic beetle before he took off and it is not a very good one, sorry. However it does show his bright metallic colours which attracted my attention to him. Luckily a few month later I was able to find a mating pair and get more pictures.

Glittering Jewel Beetle (Acmaeodera viridaenea) Buprestidae

We have many species of Jewel Beetles (buprestidae) here, and they vary in length from 2-50mm. There eyes are very large and adults feed on nectar, pollen and foliage. Females lay their eggs in bark crevices.
Larvae excavates oval tunnels in wood or the stems of herbaceous plants. Adults are relatively short lived, but immatures can take up to 35 years to complete their developement, longer than any other insect.

Rhus Flea Beetle (Blepharida) Family Chrysomelidae

This beetle is less than a half an inch in body length.
Some of the species feed on poisonous plants and Polyclada were used by our Bushmen for poisoning arrowheads.