I know this is fairly similar to You know you’re seriously into iNat when but it is a bit more specific.
How do you know when you are seriously into beetles? Here are a few answers.
You have more books about them than you can count.
You can name over 200 Coleopterans when asked.
You Make projects about them.
You are a top Identifier of certain types of beetles on websites.
You have one or more 8 dram vials filled with unidentified beetle aedeagi that you got for free in your last trade just so that you could have the fun challenge of sorting and IDing them yourself.-Me
You make this post.
You constantly stop to look at something when walking thinking it’s an interesting beetle by glancing at it, then realizing it’s a pebble.
You’ve raised more beetles than you’ve collected, photographed, or seen combined.
Comment if you can think of any more, this post/topic is just for fun.
Cheers!
-Connor
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It’s ok . I can quit anytime I want…
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Today I took a picture of some camas flowers, and it wasn’t a very good picture, but then I was looking at it and saw a little black and red blob, and wondered if it was a beetle…
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I knew about seed trading, but TIL about beetle trading. :)
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You join the iNaturalist Discord Server and participate in our Citizen DNA Barcoding Project which includes identifying target beetle species and collecting specimens for DNA barcoding (hint, hint).
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I’m almost afraid to ask: Do you buy jewelry with scarab beetles for your partner?
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Can you explain the 5th one a little more please? Are you saying there are people exchanging beetle genitalia, and then identifying the species without having the rest of the beetle to guide them? Do you have any other clues, such as “This batch is from hydrophilids”?
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Gotta feel sorry for all those beetles running around out there without their genitalia. The Eunuchidae.
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Don’t have one at the moment. : I
But nope, I wouldn’t do that.
Which species? And where is this server?
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I got a few containers filled with old carabidae genitalia a while ago, and the guy I got it from didn’t even know where or when he got them, and had no use for them, so he sent them with the specimens I was originally trading for, and said I didn’t need to give anything in exchange for them. So, when I have lots of free time now, I go through them trying to ID them, there are actually a lot of Pterostichus aedeagi in there, and those were all pretty easy to ID to genus. I find it to be an interesting challenge mostly.
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Here’s the invite link to the iNaturalist Discord Server: https://discord.gg/uskv2yx
Look for the #barcoding channel once you’ve joined.
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I can’t help wondering if somewhere in a parallel universe, there’s a giant beetle who spends all his spare time studying and identifying the contents of a bag of dried genitals from humans and other primates…
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That would be boring, they aren’t even interesting.
Sorry, I find human anatomy beyond lame.
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Here are a few more.
You’ve been using iNat for roughly eight months, and already you are at 15,770 IDs made for others, and are in the top five identifiers for Carabidae. Which I only found out yesterday, I didn’t think that I was even near the top 50 identifiers. Though I think it is a bit weird that it is called a leaderboard, it makes it sound as if we are competing to get the most IDs, which would be strange too.
You have used a few hundred legos to create a sort of ‘pen’ or mini chicken run for the beetles that you breed when they get restless in their containment units. Each are only about 2 in. x 3 in. x 4 in., so they don’t have very much space to hold six+ adult beetles, and they will start fighting if they don’t have enough space for themselves.
You have you favorite subfamily as part of your email -this is me.
You would be more comfortable having to sit in a tiny room with thousands of beetles than have to be in a large room with more than eight people.
Cheers!
-Connor
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Just a bit of gallows humour :)
Addicted/obsessed people are often in denial, brushing off concern with the claim they ‘can quit anytime’.
Your check list shows you’re in deep ;)
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Well not really thaaaat serious into beetles, but I’ve been sorting out my insect photos taxonomically, so now I’ve been learning about all these beetle families I never even knew existed!
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Last night while I was setting up my new storage system for breeding my mealworm beetles, one of the beetles emerged from its pupal form, and I let it cling to my shirt for over four hours while it was letting its exoskeleton harden. And it didn’t even care when I was walking around to get food, take out the garbage, and when I sat down to read at one point! They are definitely some of the mellowest beetle species that I have ever bred or raised.
My parents now think that I am even weirder than before, except I haven’t yet told them that I do this every day when more teneral adults pop up in the pupae storage unit, I just let them cling to my shirt, or crawl on me for hours when I am doing my classes, and schoolwork on my computer! I just have to be careful and make sure that I do not smash them, let my cats get them, or let them escape.
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