Chalcosoma caucasus

Caucasus beetle
Male of Chalcosoma caucasus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Dynastinae
Genus: Chalcosoma
Species: C. caucasus
Binomial name
Chalcosoma caucasus
(Fabricius, 1801)

Chalcosoma caucasus (Caucasus beetle) (Thai : ด้วงกวางเขาสามจันทร์) is a species of beetle in the Scarabaeidae family. This species is a senior synonym of Chalcosoma chiron referred as Java Caucasus, Chalcosoma janssensi referred as Sumatra Caucasus, Chalcosoma belangeri referred as Vietnamese Caucasus, and Chalcosoma kirbyi referred as Malay Caucasus.[1][2]

Chalcosoma caucasus

Description

Chalcosoma caucasus can reach a length of 90–120 millimetres (3.5–4.7 in), but only males can reach the maximum length.[3] It is the largest of the genus Chalcosoma and one of Asia's largest beetles. These beetles have a striking sexual dimorphism. The males have specialised enormous, curved horns on the head and thorax that they use to fight with each other to gain mating rights with females. Females are smaller. The elytra of the females have a velvety texture, as they are covered by tiny hairs.[3] When males enter into contests for females[3] the fighting spirit is also strong as in Hercules Beetle of South America. Because of the possibility of capture throughout the year the acquisition of these beetles is easy and the price is quite cheap.[4]

Distribution

This species can be found from Malaysia south into Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Malay Peninsula, Indochina) and Thailand in East region (Chanthaburi province, Sa Kaeo province).[5]

References

  1. ↑ Biolib
  2. ↑ Virtual Beetle
  3. 1 2 3 Natural World
  4. ↑ The breeding manual of a Chalcosoma caucasus Archived March 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Insect Life Forms


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