Western Hercules beetle
The western Hercules beetle is a big rhinoceros beetle with pale grey-white wing cases and black spots. The males have huge horns on their heads, a bit like a pair of pliers. The females have no horns at all.
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Fun facts
When the air gets very damp, its pale wing cases can look black.
It takes about two years to grow from an egg into a beetle.
In the wild, the grown-up beetle lives only two to four months.
A female can lay more than 100 eggs.
It lives high up in the mountains, at about 1600 metres or more.
Most asked questions about Western Hercules beetle
?How big is the western Hercules beetle?
It is about 3,5 to 6 cm long, horn included. Beetles raised by people can grow up to 8 cm.
?Do western Hercules beetles bite or sting?
No. Their horns are for showing off and pushing other males. They are harmless to people.
?What does the western Hercules beetle eat?
Tree sap, mostly from ash trees.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dynastes grantii
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Scarabaeidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Scarabaeidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Dynastes grantii (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Anaxibia. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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