Pets Hunters

On the side of a mountain on the outskirts of Montana’s capital city, loggers are racing against a beetle grub the size of a grain of rice.

From New Mexico to British Columbia, the region’s signature pine forests are succumbing to a huge infestation of mountain pine beetles that are turning a blanket of green forest into a blanket of rust red. Montana has lost a million acres of trees to the beetles, and in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming the situation is worse.

The black, hard-shelled beetle, the size of a fingertip, drills through pine bark and digs a gallery in the wood where it lays its eggs. When the larvae hatch under the bark, they eat the sweet, rich cambium layer that provides nutrients to the tree. They also inject a fungus to stop the tree from moving sap, which could drown the larvae. That fungus stains the wood blue.

“The Latin name is Dendroctunus, which means tree killer,” said Gregg DeNitto, a Forest Service entomologist in Missoula, Mont. “They are very effective.”

Source: New York Times

6th Place, 2008 Nikon Small World Photography Contest

Klaus Bolte

Stittsville, Ontario, Canada

Chrysolina fastuosa (Micro leaf beetle) on a pin head (40x)

(via bioephemera)

Cooing softly in baby talk, German Viasus gently uses a toothbrush to bathe the little animal he has raised since infancy and then pampers it with a fresh meal of mango, bananas and melon. The object of his affection? A beetle the size of a hamster with a hard, shiny shell and 2-inch-long horns.

Pictured is Viasus of Tunja, Colombia, showing off some of his Hercules beetles, which he exports to Asia for pets. Male Hercules beetles can grow to 7 inches and weigh as much as a hamster. Viasus ships giant, exotic types of the insects by the hundreds each month to Japan and elsewhere.

Source: Los Angeles Times
(via LA Unleashed)

Pink Tentacle has discovered a unique chocolate made to look like a beetle larva. They say this confection has captured the fancy of candy aficionados in Japan. Produced by the Komatsuya confectionery and bakery based in Akita prefecture, the bite-sized Larva Chocolates (Youchu Choco) have a grub-shaped body made from milk chocolate and corn flakes, a layer of skin made from white chocolate, legs made from tiny strips of dried squid, and a dainty mouth made from orange peel.

Most modern-day groups of beetles have been around since the time of the dinosaurs and have been diversifying ever since, says new research.

There are approximately 350,000 species of beetles on Earth, and probably millions more yet to be discovered, accounting for about 25% of all known life forms on the planet. The reason for this large number of beetle species has been debated by scientists for many years, but never resolved.

Now a team of scientists has shown that large numbers of modern-day beetle lineages evolved very soon after the first beetles originated, and have persisted ever since. Many modern-day lineages first appeared during the Jurassic period, when the major groups of dinosaurs appeared too.

Rhino beetles, which have been likened to mini-tanks with a horn - are popular pets among Japanese boys, who like collecting and breeding them.

Now tournaments are being held in Japan featuring Rhino beetles going into battle with each other. A race is held to eliminate the weaker specimens before the 15 strongest are entered into a boxing ring for the final competition.