bess beetles

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Joseph S.
Posts: 540
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 5:21 pm

bess beetles

Post by Joseph S. »

Anyone here come across these in the field? Odontotaenius disjunctus
PAHerper1
Posts: 23
Joined: August 1st, 2010, 12:48 pm
Location: SE Pennsylvania

Re: bess beetles

Post by PAHerper1 »

Yes, see them all the time here along the east coast.
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BillMcGighan
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: bess beetles

Post by BillMcGighan »

Looking back at pics from this summer, I came across some of a visit one evening to our neighbor to watch their “9 o’clock flowers” open for the evening (not allot to do near us.) This takes only a 8-15 minutes.

It did get almost dark when we heard a helicopter come in!
The small chopper hovered over the grass, us, and the yellow flowers before lighting on a flower.


8:17 PM
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8:27 PM

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I think this is a Bess Beetle?
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Joseph S.
Posts: 540
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 5:21 pm

Re: bess beetles

Post by Joseph S. »

Yes, that most certainly is. And very odd behavior for a bess beetle. Early accounts did not even think these beetles could fly. Beetles held with wings open and dropped from several stories would not. But they are now known to do nuptial flights in the summer...they do take sweet food in captivity but I wonder if it meant to land on the sweet flowers-i bet it did!


PAHerper: Neat! I don't know if animal requests are out of line but I am looking for a number of these to increase a group I have for an educational program. Also trying to breed them-not sure how decayed they like the wood or how large of an area a pair needs to build galleries for larvae.
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