Hi everyone,
I just posted here with a few questions. I have many pleasant memories of my childhood catching swarms of bark beetles on early June evenings. I loved how they would buzz, hiss, and glide in enormous clouds over the trees and the roof of my house, and sometimes even fly up and hit me in the face. Pretty attractive beetle as well, with that ruby red head and golden sheen on the wings. I was always intruiged and fascinated with these diminutive creatures for several reasons, which I have listed below:
They only appeared for about 3 hours at dusk, and then completely dissapeared. I never found a single trace of them in the morning at all. They are re very mysterious.
I could only find them for the first few weeks of June.
The minute I would catch one, even very gently in the palm of my hand, it would usually either not be able to fly anymore, or it would die.
What I want to know is, has anyone here ever tried keeping bark beetles? Just for a week or two to observe? How did you keep them? Also, I would like to hear as much info on the natural history of this animal that I can. If you know anything, please share it with me. Thank you. Your information is greatly appreciated.
