Elephant beetle
| Elephant beetle | ||||||||||||||||
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| Megasoma elephas | ||||||||||||||||
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M. e. elephas |
Elephant Beetles, Megasoma elephas, are part of the Scarabaeidae family and the subfamily Dynastinae. They are classified with the Neotropical rhinoceros beetles.
Appearance
Elephant beetles are black in color and their body is covered with a coat of small fine microscopic hairs, which is particularly thick on the beetle's elytra. The males have two horns protruding from their head and another from their prothorax. The females have no horns. The males' horns purpose is a defense mechanism in competition against other males for food and mates.
Size
In size, elephant Beetles range between 70-120 mm and the males have even extended over 120 mm. Males are around 2 to 3 sizes bigger than the females.
Location
Elephant Beetles are located in Central America, southern part of Mexico, and South American rainforests,and southern part of Texas, and in parts of Australia.
List of subspecies
- Megasoma elephas elephas Fabricius, 1775
- Megasoma elephas iijimai Nagai, 2003
- Megasoma elephas occidentalis Bolívar et al., 1963
Breeding
Elephant Beetle's larvae develop in large decaying logs and take up to four years to develop into an adult beetle. The female Elephant Beetle lays her eggs into the decaying log; the egg stage takes around 3 weeks. The next stage, the larvae stage, takes around 29 weeks in which the C-shape larvae (also called white grubs) have brown heads and six legs and consume organic matter. The third and last stage, the pupal stage, lasts around 5 weeks at a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. The life span of an adult Elephant Beetle is around four months.
Food
For their diet, Elephant Beetles eat the sap of particular trees and ripened fallen fruits such as pineapples. They also eat longan, lychee fruit, and bark from certain trees like the poinciana.
Other Facts
Elephant Beetles are mainly active during the night.
Elephant Beetles are also able to maintain high body temperatures with temperature decrease.[1]
Their population has been depleted by the destruction of the rainforests, which has reduced their grounds for mating.
References
External links
- Video article on the BBC News Website
- Photos and size of Megasoma elephas elephas
- Megasoma elephas elephas pics
- Megasoma elephas occidentalis pics
- Elephants at the Insectarium?
- Family Scarabaeidae - Megasoma elephas
- God of Insects
- History of Insects
- Viva Natura TV
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Elephant beetle". Image Credit.
