Yooooooo Big Frickin Buge

Yooooooo big frickin buge

Elephant beetle - Megasoma elephas

Here is another info-post, this time on an awesome puppy-sized beetle known as an elephant beetle, or Megasoma elephas.

@hispaatra Researched the puppy beetle :DD

Description

Elephant beetles are black in color and covered with a coat of fine microscopic hairs, in other words their body is hirsute. The hairs grow particularly thick on the beetle's elytra. The hairs give the beetle's body a yellowish colour. Males have two horns protruding from the head and another from the prothorax. The longest head horn gives the beetle its common name, since it resembles an elephant’s trunk. Females have no horns. The horns are used for defense, and in competition among males for food and mates.

In size, elephant beetles typically range between 7 and 12 centimetres. The largest male specimen, that we know of, measures 13.7 centimetres, including the horn.

Diet

For their diet, elephant beetles eat the sap of particular trees and ripened fallen fruits. In captivity, they also eat fruits such as pineapples, longan, lychee fruit, and bark from certain trees like the poinciana.

Breeding

Megasoma elephas larvae develop in large decaying logs or the ground, where the female beetle lays her eggs. Some weeks after that, usually three, 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 five weeks at a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. The life span of an adult elephant beetle is around one to three months.

Distribution and habitat

Elephant beetles can be found in southern Mexico, Central America, and in South American rainforests.

Elephant beetles live in rainforests and are mainly active during the night. They are also able to maintain a high internal body heat when foraging despite reduced ambient temperature.

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Image sources:

1.

https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/1477812351560073/

2.

https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/20055160839071562/

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Text references:

1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_beetle

2.

https://www.grida.no/resources/1901

3.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/122000-Megasoma-elephas