Japanese rhinoceros beetle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iJapanese rhinoceros beetle

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Scarabaeidae
Subfamily:	Dynastinae
Genus:	Trypoxylus
Species:	T. dichotomus

Binomial name

Trypoxylus dichotomus
(Linnaeus, 1771)

Synonyms

Allomyrina dichotoma

Wikispecies has information related to:

Japanese rhinoceros beetle

The Japanese rhinoceros beetle or Japanese horned beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus, is a species of rhinoceros beetle found in Japan, Taiwan and China. It is sold as a pet in department stores in Japan, where it is also frequently depicted in popular media as a common cartoon character for various uses, for example much like cartoon bears, lions, or alligators are seen in advertisements and product labels in the United States.

1 Gambling
2 Pets and breeding
3 Popular culture
4 Lifespan
5 External links

[edit] Gambling

Kabutomushi are a very popular subject in gambling, like betta fighting fish and cricket fights. In the most popular game, two different male beetles are placed on a log. The two beetles will battle eachother, trying to push each other off the log, the one to stay on the log is the winner. This is a huge source and loss of money to many people, especially in the Ryūkyū Islands.

[edit] Pets and breeding

Many children of Japan will buy, or catch, these bugs, including stag beetles, and breed them. At hardware stores, males will cost about 350-1000 yen, (around three to ten US dollars) while the females cost much less. The reason females cost less is because they have no horns at all. Another popular beetle is the atlas beetle, which can cost more than 10,000 yen(about a hundred US dollars.) Male beetles will usually die after mating, and the female will die after laying eggs. The eggs are laid in a piece of rotting wood, or in the ground. The eggs hatch into larva, it can take more than 5 years until the are fully mature, though there is no definite way of knowing how long it takes. Japanese scientists are trying to find supplements to make them mature faster, and turn out bigger. An important thing is to never mess with a beetle when it is in its pupa stage, for it may come out deformed.

[edit] Popular culture

Beetles are very popular in anime, adverts, and movies in Japan, including:

[edit] Lifespan

The kabutomushi will live most of its life underground, for it only lives about 4 months as an actual beetle. The earliest beetles will come out of the ground in late spring, they will usually die arround middle September to early October. They usually will die after mating and laying eggs.