Japanese rhinoceros beetle
The Japanese rhinoceros beetle is a big, shiny dark brown beetle. The male has a long horn on his head shaped like a pitchfork. He uses it to flip other males over, like a tiny wrestler. In Japan it is called kabutomushi.
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Fun facts
The male's horn can be up to one third as long as his whole body.
Only the males grow a horn. They use it to push rivals off their feeding tree.
Smaller males sneak past the big fighters instead of wrestling them.
Even with a huge horn, the male can still fly as fast as the female.
Some of these beetles carve into tree bark with their face like a chisel to make the sap run.
Most asked questions about Japanese rhinoceros beetle
?Is the Japanese rhinoceros beetle dangerous?
No. It does not sting and is harmless to people.
?What does a Japanese rhinoceros beetle eat?
Grown-up beetles drink tree sap. The larvae eat rotting plant stuff in the soil.
?How long does it take to grow up?
About one year from egg to grown-up beetle.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Trypoxylus dichotomus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Scarabaeidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Scarabaeidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Japanese rhino beetle, Japanese horned beetle, Kabutomushi
Where the facts come from
- Japanese 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 Gombe at Japanese Wikipedia. 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.
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