Post by bandrow on Jan 20, 2022 17:45:30 GMT -8
Greetings,
A question for any of you who have done a lot of rearing of scarab beetles - do scarab larvae poop? This question was posed to me by a colleague and I have no answer. She has heard that scarab larvae do not defecate - but could find no information regarding it in the literature, and we both imagined that constipation for the whole larval stage is probably unlikely. Many scarab larvae have the posterior part of the abdomen darkened as if they are full of fecal matter, but at what frequency do they void this? We were wondering if the larvae withhold fecal matter for some purpose like increasing the amount of gut flora available for digestion, and then purge this with each molt, basically pooping once an instar.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Bandrow
A question for any of you who have done a lot of rearing of scarab beetles - do scarab larvae poop? This question was posed to me by a colleague and I have no answer. She has heard that scarab larvae do not defecate - but could find no information regarding it in the literature, and we both imagined that constipation for the whole larval stage is probably unlikely. Many scarab larvae have the posterior part of the abdomen darkened as if they are full of fecal matter, but at what frequency do they void this? We were wondering if the larvae withhold fecal matter for some purpose like increasing the amount of gut flora available for digestion, and then purge this with each molt, basically pooping once an instar.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Bandrow
