Eupatorus gracilicornis

Eupatorus gracilicornis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Scarabaeiformia
Superfamily:	Scarabaeoidea
Family:	Scarabaeidae
Subfamily:	Dynastinae
Genus:	Eupatorus
Species:	Eupatorus gracilicornis
Binomial name
Eupatorus gracilicornis Arrow, 1908[1]

Eupatorus gracilicornis, the five-horned rhinoceros beetle, is a beetle that has four large horns on the prothorax and one extra-long cephalic horn. Rhinoceros beetles, the Dynastinae, are a subfamily of the scarab beetle family (Scarabaeidae). They are also known as Hercules beetles, unicorn beetles, or horn beetles. There are over 300 described species of these beetles, best known for their bizarre shapes and large size.

The five-horned rhinoceros beetle has been found in China, India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.^[2] Its coloring is shiny jet-black, while the elytra or fore wings are colored yellow or gold. The body is covered by a thick exoskeleton and a pair of thick wings lay atop another set of membranous wings underneath, allowing the beetle to fly, although not very efficiently, owing to its large size.

The flying season is usually in September, when most of the males usually appear to wait for copulation. Its length is 50–95 mm. As a larva, its diet is rotten wood. Its adult diet consists of nectar, plant sap and fruit. It was first described by the British entomologist Gilbert John Arrow in 1908.

References

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