Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Westley Price » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:47 am

Hi All

A few weeks ago I found this beetle in my garden and after IDing it and reading a bit about the captive requirements, I decided to keep it.

This is a Giant Emerald Fruit Chafer or Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi. I keep him on a substrate of dried cut grass with a bit of soil underneath and feed his sugary fruits like mango, apple and banana. He literally eats for hours on end so I am real happy he has been doing so well. I really hope I find a female soon as this guy is adult already.

He is actually super aggressive and SUPER strong so I keep handling to a minimum. I have some issues with fruit flies in his tub, but if I replace substrate regularly and remove old food items, this seems to work.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

On my hand for scale. Note the mabgo pulp on his "horn." He uses is to dig into the mango.

Image

Image

Feeding

Image

Image

Cheers
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Wolf777 » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:53 am

Nicely done Wesley. I have only seen two of these, and I must say they are probably my favourite beetle.
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Tarka » Fri Jan 10, 2014 12:37 pm

Awesome specimen! Some sic photography skills as well Wesley.
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Mehelya » Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:34 pm

What a lovely specimen Westley! Thanks for sharing! Looks a good contender with the Goliath Beetle for size.
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby mrtsnakes » Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:04 pm

Thats a very nice male! i breed with this species and if you need a female let me know.....
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Westley Price » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:25 am

Thanx for the kind comments guys.

Mrtsnakes, that you for the offer, but I live in Namibia so shipping is a hassle. I am always astounded by your invert collection. Is there anyway you could possibly post some pictures of the species you keep as well as your setups, in a seperate topic of course.
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby mrtsnakes » Sat Jan 25, 2014 5:07 pm

yeah Westley will do as soon as i get a chance!
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Amelia » Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:19 am

I found this beauty in my house yesterday in Waverley, Pretoria and am trying to identify it. I suspect it is a female Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi, I was hoping you can confirm this? The coin is 2.5cm in diameter.

Image

A friend told me that it's larvae kills palm trees but i can't find any confirmation or reference on the net. I hope it's not true as i let it go & have 3 queen palms in the garden! :-?
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Westley Price » Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:15 am

That looks like a female of the species, yes, beautiful beetles.

I also have palm trees in the garden where mine was found, but I have not heard of them killing palms. I would just let her be, or keep her if you want ;)
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Amelia » Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:41 pm

Thanks Westley, all good news. :D She has indeed disappeared back into nature.
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Westley Price » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:43 pm

A few weeks ago I finally managed to get a female and placed her with the large male which I have. She is significantly smaller than him.

So today I went to check on them and seems the male has taken a bit of a fancy in her, but apparently the feeling isn't mutual, haha.

Here is a picture showing the size deference between the two, female on left and male on right. Note the difference in "facial" features.

Image

Male roughing up the female

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Getting down and dirty (forcefully!)

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A bit too close for comfort, but just so you get the idea ;)

Image

Interestingly, I noted a difference in the texture of the exoskeleton between the males and the female. Obviously using the "horns" is an easier way to sen them, but this was quite obvious too. The females have a pitted texture of the exoskeleton while the males have a smooth one.

Note the pitted texture

Image

Thanx for looking
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby gekosin » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:55 pm

Any idea what the larva of these look like? I found a huge larva in our compost heap recently and have put it in a tank to see what comes of it, would be interesting to see though! Keep us posted :)
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Primogen » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:32 pm

Found a pic of the larvae, but they don't really have any identifying features, besides maybe their size.



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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby gekosin » Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:45 pm

Think this is what I found its as fat as my pinky finger and almost as long :) will be cool if it is the same thing
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Re: Dicronorrhina derbyana layardi

Postby Westley Price » Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:16 am

This male AKA "playa" is not happy with just one female, he needs two, haha. He just sits on top of them, holding on to both of the for deal life.

Image

And here is the three of them at feeding time. Male of the right of picture, two females on the left. Again, note the difference in texture of the exoskeleton between the sexes.

Image

The massive male I had has died (likely of old age, coz he was super comfortable) but not before mating both females so let's hope to keep that giant gene going!

Thanx for looking.
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