After a large Eucalyptus Mannifera tree has been removed from my garden several weeks ago I finally decided to plant something else in that spot, so I started digging... Some roots of the Eucalyptus tree still needed to be removed and inside one of them there was a surprise: a hollow chamber, size of a small matchbox (but roundish) with an interesting large insect in it. It is a creamy-white pupa of a longhorn beetle (also known as longicorn), and it is alive. I decided to call him Pharaoh (click to enlage photo below). The walls of the chamber were smooth, probably because it wiggles his back in all directions from time to time, maybe by doing that over many months or years (?) it smoothened (or perhaps even enlarged?) the chamber...Or maybe it eats the wood?
I placed Pharaoh and fragment of his root chamber in a glass terrarium with some soil, but whether he will survive and for how long, time will tell...
I have no idea what he eats if anything, perhaps juices of the tree? But now that the tree has been removed he is doomed, unless he is almost ready to emerge as an adult longhorn...I give him 10% chances for survival.
On the other hand, if he goes on and lives for lets say 5 more years like that (unlikely?) then it is quite a commitment on my part, isn't it? hmm...I have no idea what to think...
And maybe what seemed like an elongated chamber was actually a tunnel being built to the surface...? Maybe he is ready to become an adult ? I will try to protect him from drying out and will observe him.
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