| Japanese rhinoceros beetle | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Scarabaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Dynastinae |
| Genus: | Allomyrina Arrow, 1911 |
| Species: | A. dichotoma |
| Binomial name | |
| Allomyrina dichotoma (Linnaeus, 1771) |
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| Synonyms | |
|
Trypoxylus dichotomus |
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The Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Japanese horned beetle, or kabutomushi (カブトムシ), Allomyrina dichotoma, is a species of rhinoceros beetle found in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. It is sold as a pet in department stores in many countries of Asia (in Japan, even in vending machines), where it is also frequently depicted in popular media as a common cartoon character for various uses, for example much as cartoon bears, lions, or alligators are seen in advertisements and product labels in the United States.
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Kabutomushi are a very popular subject in gambling, like Siamese fighting fish and cricket fights. In the most popular game, two different male beetles are placed on a log. The two beetles will battle each other, 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 Ryukyu Islands.
Many children in Japan buy or catch these bugs and breed them. Male and female insects will cost about 500-1000 yen (approximately five to ten US dollars). Male beetles normally die in the fall after mating many times, where as female beetles normally die after laying eggs. The eggs themselves are laid directly in the ground. The eggs then hatch into larva, which usually mature in a year. Japanese scientists are trying to find supplements to make the Japanese rhinoceros beetle mature faster and grow to a larger size. Disturbing the beetle during its pupa stage is known to cause deformations in the beetle's physiology and possibly cause the beetle to die of shock. Touching the Japanese rhinoceros beetle too suddenly, even after it has metamorphosed, may also cause the beetle to die of shock.
Japanese rhinoceros beetles are very popular in anime, tokusatsu, advertisements, televisions, and films in Japan, including:
The Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle is popular in complex origami, known as the Samurai Helmet Beetle
The pairing of the Japanese rhinoceros beetle with the stag beetle is also popular.
Often, they are linked to the element of lightning. It is probably due to their horns somewhat resembling a Lightning Rod.
OWI manufactures a robot kit called kabuto-mushi that can grasp a pen in its jaws and write with it.
The Monster Rancher series also includes a giant rhinoceros beetle called Beaclon. This monster is reported to be high in physical strength but low in intelligence.
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 around middle September to early October. They usually will die after mating and laying eggs.
In Japanese, rhinoceros beetles are called kabutomushi (かぶとむし, also written 甲虫 or かぶと虫). "Mushi" is Japanese for bug, and "kabuto" is Japanese for helmet. So, literally, it means helmet-bug.