Larva Life

The larvae of the Kuwagata have to be inside a piece of decayed wood, which is the food for their life time, in order to life. Many kids in Japan love to find the larva or the adult Kuwagata, catching them in a net.  Japanese kids often look for or cut decayed wood to search for larvae. The larva would be removed gently without touching the naked larva with any material except rubber gloves. If you touch the naked skin of the larva, it will become deformed, paralyzed or die. The larva is very fragile. If you push just a little the larva will burst.  Larva will eat decayed wood. When the larva is ready to evolve into an adult it will start to eat and make an oval shape like a cocoon. Finally, the larva curls up and evolves. The evolving could take more than 1 year or so.

Adult Kuwagata

The adult Kuwagata is very hard to raise. You always have to have the ground moist. You must not put a male with another male. They will fight and kill each other or injure one of the Kuwagata. When the Kuwagata starts to evolve into an adult age, you must not touch the body or else there will be something wrong with it. The adult can eat rotten apples or something soft. They can’t eat very hard food or else it would break their jaw.  If they break a jaw, they can’t eat anything and they will die of starvation.

(The following translations can be read by  Japanese compatible soft ware.)

くわがたのようちゅうは、くさった木にすんでいます。日本の子どもたちは、くわがたのようちゅうをさがしたり、くわがたを、あみでつかまえるのがすきです。みつけたら、ゴムのてぶくろをして、ようちゅうにさわります。てでさわると、ようちゅうは、しんでしまいます。ようちゅうは、くさった木を食べて大きくなります。まゆをつくり、おとなになります。これに一年いじょうかかります。

くわがたのせいちゅう（おとな）を、そだてるのは、たいへんです。かわきすぎないように。おすとおすをいっしょにしないように。からだにさわらないように。せいちゅうは、くさったりんごのように、やわらかいものはたべます。かたいものはだめです。あごがわれて、しんでしまいます。

By Paul N.

Spring 2001

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