Rhinoceros beetle (Xylotrupes gideon)

Rhinoceros beetle (Xylotrupes gideon) is a species of insect belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. These arboreal beetles reach a length of 3.5–7 cm; although they possess wings, they do not fly. They exhibit sexual dimorphism, with a body color that is predominantly black, often reflecting a dark brown hue. The head is equipped with a large, variably shaped horn.

X. gideon has a glossy body, ranging in color from dark red and dark brown to black, with eyes positioned on both sides of the head. When disturbed, the beetle produces a hissing sound by rubbing the tip of its abdomen against the edges of its hardened forewings (elytra).



Males are larger than females and possess two branched, chitinous horns—a large one on the thorax and a smaller one on the head—which are used to displace rivals during the mating season.

The male’s head is transverse in shape and features sparse punctures. The clypeus is elongated with scattered, small, dot-like punctures. The antennae consist of 10 segments. The pronotum and scutellum also bear sparse, small punctures. The elytra and pygidium have a coriaceous (leathery) texture with fine, scattered punctures.

The female has a rugose (wrinkled) dorsum, with a pronotum covered in dense, coarse punctures. The pygidium has a finely rough texture.

This species possesses strong legs adorned with small spines and colored brownish-black. They spend the majority of their lives in medium-sized trees—particularly mimosa—and tend to form colonies.

TAXON

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Scarabaeiformia
Superfamily: Scarabaeoidea
Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Dynastinae
Tribe: Dynastini
Subtribe: Xylotrupina
Genus: Xylotrupes Hope (1837)
Species: Xylotrupes gideon Linnaeus (1767)

SYNONYMS

Scarabaeus gideon

PUBLICATIONS

Linnaeus, C. (1767). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio XII. Laurentii Salvi, Holmiae 1:533-1327. http://www-gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/cgi-bin/digbib.cgi?PPN362053723

VERNACULAR NAME

Chinese (simplified): 橡胶木犀金龟
Chinese (traditional): 橡膠木犀金龜 - 黑鍬蜋
English: Rhinoceros beetle, Brown rhinoceros beetle, Siamese rhinoceros beetle, Fighting beetle, Elephant beetle
Guangdong: 橡膠木犀金龜
Hong Kong: 黑鍬蜋 - 橡膠木犀金龜
Indonesia: Kumbang tanduk, Kumbang badak cokelat
Italian: Scarabeo rinoceronte di Giava
Japanese: ヒメカブト
Macao: 黑鍬蜋 - 橡膠木犀金龜
Thai: ด้วงกว่างชน

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
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