Hellburnt Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

(11 customer reviews)

$9.99

3 in stock

Hellburnt Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

Description

The Hellburnt Diabolical Ironclad beetle, Phloeodes diabolicus, is a color morph with four pale areas on the abdomen as noted in the top video, below.

Limit 3 per customer due to low inventory, sorry.

Ironclads are a close relative of darkling beetles but are in the completely separate Ironclad family Zopheridae. These are charcoal black with paler areas and measure about 1/2 to 3/4 inches. They are very cryptic looking beetles with rough and chunky, asphalt-like texture. Their pronotums extend out in almost heart-shaped flanges aside their heads. Recesses below the pronotum provide hiding places for their antennae when they go into death-feigning mode (tonic immobility). When disturbed they sometimes exhibit a tripod like stance that is opposite the normal darkling “head-stander” behavior. These beetles sit on their haunches and extend their front legs like little bulldogs.

This beetles can live with the other desert tenebs (family Tenebrionidae including death feigning beetles and darklings of various flavors). They tend to come from slightly more moist habitats than these other beetles but I’ve not noticed that they don’t struggle in my desert tanks. Their cuticle is famously thick and entomologists break their pins trying to pin them and like to tell stories about how their exoskeleton is so tough they can, apparently, survive being run over by a car. In other words, there probably isn’t a lot of water loss for these beetles and giving them a bit of food with moisture in it probably goes a long way to keep them hydrated. Be sure to read the reviews section where other people mention foods they’ve offered.

More photos available on Bugguide.

We offer them bits of carrot, apple (peeled) and dried pet food. I’ve seen them eat store bought mushrooms. They are not able to climb glass or smooth plastic tank walls.

 

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