Lamprima Adolphinae
Lamprima adolphinae beetles are found in the mountains of New Guinea. In Japan, they are commonly referred to as "papuakin," which is short for their full Japanese name, papuakiniro kuwagata. I will refer to these beetles as papuakin from now on, like the Japanese people do.
The "kiniro" in papuakiniro suggests that the color of these beetles is gold. However, these beautiful beetles come in many different colors. The golden green is the most common color, but they can also be various shades of purple and blue. They can also be black and dark copper, red copper, and bronze. They are popular with beetle breeders because they are quite easy to breed. You also never know what color the offspring will be, so it can be exciting to see what color they will become. My brother-in-law and I are trying to breed the coveted blue male, which has still eluded us. |
Male Papuakin vs. Female Papuakin
Male papuakin have mandibles that curl upwards and look like saws. The males use the fan-like structure on their front legs and their mandibles to cut the stems of plants. They then suck on the liquid that comes out. Males can be anywhere from 24-50mm in length. The male's head is smooth.
Female papuakin have small rounded bodies. They have short mandibles. Females are smaller in size, ranging from 20-25mm in length. The female's head has many small dimples. |
Some Color Variations
Caring for Adult Papuakin
Papuakin are very easy to look after. The optimal temperatures are between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. They have a short life span, living for only three to four months as an adult. My longest living papuakin survived for close to 8 months. I have had adult papuakin during the hot Japanese summers, where it is regularly over 30 degrees Celsius. I have also had them in the cold Japanese winters with temperatures regularly below 10 degrees Celsius.
Since these are such small beetles, they don't need a lot of space. Also, since their life span is so short and they are not aggressive beetles, a male and female can be kept together. It is fine to use a coniferous blend matting to help protect them against mites. They also need pieces of wood for them to stand on or hide beneath. They also require beetle jelly. However, they are not huge eaters. It sometimes looks like they don't eat anything. I replace their jelly once a week just to keep it fresh. You should keep the matting and containers slightly moist. Avoid too much water, as the wood will get moldy very quickly if the conditions are too wet.
Since these are such small beetles, they don't need a lot of space. Also, since their life span is so short and they are not aggressive beetles, a male and female can be kept together. It is fine to use a coniferous blend matting to help protect them against mites. They also need pieces of wood for them to stand on or hide beneath. They also require beetle jelly. However, they are not huge eaters. It sometimes looks like they don't eat anything. I replace their jelly once a week just to keep it fresh. You should keep the matting and containers slightly moist. Avoid too much water, as the wood will get moldy very quickly if the conditions are too wet.
Breeding Papuakin
To successfully breed papuakin, you should try to keep the temperatures between and 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. After a couple of weeks together and after you have seen them mating, you can remove the female and put her in another container that has humus suitable for stag beetles. I often use the humus pictured below. However, I have had much better results when using RTN's U-Mat.
All you need is a 1.4L container that has a lid with a hole in it to allow air to enter. First, compact the humus into the container to a depth of 5cm. Then, fill the rest of the container with the humus. You do not need to compact the upper humus. Put in some beetle jelly. Then, add the female. I leave my females in their egg laying container for about a month before removing them. Females can lay up to 30 eggs. I then wait until I can see larvae moving in the container before I empty out the humus.
All you need is a 1.4L container that has a lid with a hole in it to allow air to enter. First, compact the humus into the container to a depth of 5cm. Then, fill the rest of the container with the humus. You do not need to compact the upper humus. Put in some beetle jelly. Then, add the female. I leave my females in their egg laying container for about a month before removing them. Females can lay up to 30 eggs. I then wait until I can see larvae moving in the container before I empty out the humus.
Caring for the Larvae
Papuakin will remain as larvae for 3 to 5 months. It is a very short time. The females will remain as larvae for a shorter time than the larger males.
There are two methods you can use while caring for the larvae. The first way is to continue using humus. The larvae will create a pupa chamber in the humus and eventually emerge as an adult. The males made with this method are generally on the smaller size. The second way is to put the larvae in kinshi bottles. Since papuakin are not large larvae, you can put about 3-5 larvae into one 1500cc kinshi bottle. You may need to change this kinshi bottle once if they have eaten 70% of the hypha in the first couple of months. Although putting so many larvae into the one kinshi bottle is a more cost effective approach, it can lead to some problems. The key is to try and separate the female larvae from the male larvae, which can be quite difficult to do if all the larvae are of similar size. The larger larvae will be the males. The reason for this separation is that the females usually emerge as adults quicker than the males. In some cases, the females can emerge almost 2 months ahead of the males. If this happens, the female can disturb the male in his pupa chamber, which can lead to deformities, or most likely death. This has happened on a couple of occasions when I used this approach, which can be particularly upsetting, especially when the male that died was on the larger side. Having all females in one kinshi bottle and the males in another kinshi bottle can help reduce this problem. |
Since the life span of the papuakin is so short, you may need to use a Styrofoam cooler box with a heating system if you wish to breed papuakin during the fall/winter seasons to keep the temperatures optimal for both larvae and adults, This is around 24 degrees Celsius.
A more detailed explanation for this approach can be found on my rainbow stag beetle page. That page also has greater explanations on how to use kinshi bottles. To be honest, the care and breeding of rainbow stag beetles and papuakin are almost identical. |
It's a Surprise....and a Shock!
I bought a papuakin pair from a beetle specialist shop in Japan. The male was purple and the female was blue.
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After breeding that pair, the male offspring produced were all green. Some were more of an army green, while others were green with purple tinges. I was hoping for more color variation. The females were all blue. Some had green tinges, while others had purple tinges.
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I paired one of the male offspring with one of the female offspring. Their offspring have just emerged. What colors will they be? I hope the males are not all green again!
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........and the verdict is in! Of the six larvae that were bred, five emerged as adults. The sixth male died as it was emerging. One male was dark purple. In the photos you can see that one side of his mandibles is shorter than the other side. I initially thought it had snapped off as it was emerging, but it just appears to be shorter with no signs of a snap. The second male was green, but under certain light, it looks red. The contrast is quite interesting. The third male is golden green, with a purple line separating its elytra. Of the females, one female is completely dark purple, while the other has a purple head and a dark metallic green body. This time around, none of them were blue. It really is exciting to see what colors will emerge.
They Love to Fly
For many of my photos, I take my beetles outside and photograph them in my garden. However, papuakin are so agile and break into flight very quickly. They also can be very active when they want to be and don't want to pose for a photo. Most of my photos of these beetles are blurry because they won't stay still! The ones I took of the blue female below are some of my favorite beetle photos that I have managed to take.