On the 16th of October the Sand Scarab larva surfaced for its new year of activities. I had in my mind, the thought that it would emerge from the bucket as a beetle, but of course the larva was simply over wintering, following its submersion in the sea water. As Dr Patrick Dale points out in his thesis notes,…
‘ The beginning of pupation is therefore probably in late January and early February but the end which can only be estimated from the pupa collected on January 24 and metamorphosed on March 16 probably occurs from March to April. ‘
So the sand pit and buckets with Sand Scarab Larvae within, were all in all, very much a waste of time & effort.
For a further update on the next and final bucket experiment, see Diary of 22nd Of June 2002.