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Rhinoceros Beetle

Rhinoceros Beetle

Trypoxylus dichotomus tsunobosonis Kôno, 1931
The rhinoceros beetle belongs to the family Dynastini in the order Coleoptera. The male, in a large body size, has a pair of antler-like protrusions on the head and horn-like protrusions on the pronotum that are bifurcated at the front. The female is hornless, similar to the large scarab.

They often dwell in the broad-leaved forests. The larvae live in humus soil or decaying vegetation. The adults like to feed on decayed fruits and tree juice, being photokinetic. A very common nocturnal insect in Taiwan, they appear in summer and autumn, and can be found in the general mountainous regions.

The rhinoceros beetle is an insect of complete metamorphosis, undergoing through a life cycle of four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Every year between August and September, they mate and ovulate in humus soil under fallen leaves. Through two weeks of incubation, the larvae have hatched which would turn into pupae after 10 months and then become adults after 1-2 months of eclosion. They die in the winter after their eclosion.