European rhinoceros beetle
The European rhinoceros beetle is one of the biggest beetles in Europe. It is shiny reddish brown, and the male has a long curved horn on his head, just like a rhino. It flies around at dusk and at night and likes to come to lights.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is European rhinoceros beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Only the males have a horn. The females have none.
Its larva is even longer than the beetle, up to 10 centimetres.
The larva takes 2 to 4 years to grow up.
Its belly and legs are covered with long red hairs.
Dim, the big beetle in the film A Bug's Life, is a European rhinoceros beetle.
Most asked questions about European rhinoceros beetle
?Is the rhinoceros beetle dangerous?
No. It looks scary with its horn, but it is harmless to people.
?What does a rhinoceros beetle eat?
The larvae eat rotting wood. The grown-up beetles do not eat at all.
?How big is the European rhinoceros beetle?
It is usually 2 to 4 centimetres long, and the biggest ones reach almost 5 centimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Oryctes nasicornis
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Scarabaeidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Scarabaeidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- European rhinoceros beetle (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 Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Stag beetle
Hercules beetle
Common glow-worm
Goliath beetle
Cockchafer
Mealworm beetle
Fall cankerworm
Sirex woodwasp
Peach blossom
Wood white
Purple hairstreak
Clifden nonpareil