Megasoma elephas
| Elephant beetle | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Scarabaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Dynastinae |
| Genus: | Megasoma |
| Species: | M. elephas |
| Binomial name | |
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Megasoma elephas Fabricius, 1775 |
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| Subspecies | |
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M. e. elephas |
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M. e. elephas
M. e. iijimai
M. e. occidentalis
The elephant beetle (Megasoma elephas) is a member of the family Scarabaeidae and the subfamily Dynastinae. They are Neotropical rhinoceros beetles.
Elephant beetles are black in color and covered with a coat of fine microscopic hairs. The hairs grow particularly thick on the beetle's elytra. The hairs give the beetle's body a yellowish color. Males have two horns protruding from the head and another from the prothorax. Females have no horns. The horns are used for defense, and in competition among males for food and mates.
In size, elephant beetles range between 7 and 12 cm (2.75–4.75 in); males are sometimes even bigger. Males are around 2 to 3 times bigger than the females.
Elephant beetles are located in southern Mexico, Central America, and in South American rainforests.
Elephant beetle larvae develop in large decaying logs and take up to three years to develop into adult beetles, depending upon the subspecies. The female elephant beetle lays her eggs inside the decaying log or in the ground. Some weeks after that (usually 3) the eggs hatch into C-shaped larvae, white grubs with brown heads and six legs. The larval stage lasts around 29 months, during which time the grubs 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 one to three months.
For their diet, elephant beetles eat the sap of particular trees and ripened fallen fruits. In captivity, they also eat exotic fruits such as pineapples, longan, lychee fruit, and bark from certain trees like the poinciana.
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Wikipedia