''Xylotrupes gideon'', the brown rhinoceros beetle, is a species of large

scarab beetle The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

belonging to the subfamily Dynastinae.

Subspecies

Seven subspecies have been identified. * ''Xylotrupes gideon australicus'' * ''Xylotrupes gideon borneensis'' Minck, 1920 * ''Xylotrupes gideon gideon'' (Linnaeus, 1767) * ''Xylotrupes gideon kaszabi'' * ''Xylotrupes gideon lakorensis'' Silvestre, 2002 * ''Xylotrupes gideon sawuensis'' Silvestre, 2002 * ''Xylotrupes gideon sondaicus'' Silvestre, 2002 * ''Xylotrupes gideon tonkinensis'' Minck, 1920

Distribution

This species is widespread in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

(nominotypical form),

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

(''borneensis''),

Sunda Islands The Sunda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Sunda) are a group of islands in the Malay Archipelago.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sunda Islands" . ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. They consist of the Greater Sunda ...

and Moluccas.

Description

''Xylotrupes gideon'' can reach a length of .Natural World
/ref> As usual with rhinoceros beetles there is a great difference between the genders. Males are larger than females. They have two chitinous bifurcated horns, a thick thoracic horn and a smaller cephalic horn, which they use to eliminate their rivals during the mating period. These beetles are shiny dark red, dark brown, or black in coloration. The eyes are located on each side of the head. When disturbed these beetles make a hissing noise, produced by rubbing the tip of the abdomen against the edge the elytra. Males with transverse, scantily punctured head; clypeus elongate, scantily and minutely punctured. Antenna with 10 segments. Pronotum and scutellum scantily and minutely punctured. Elytra and pygidium coriaceous, finely and scantily punctured. Dorsum of female is rugose, with coarsely and densely punctured pronotum. Pygidium finely rugose.

Biology

One source gives the average duration of the different developmental stages; females lay about 55 eggs at one time in decaying logs; eggs mature in 21 days, where the larvae hatch from decaying coconut logs; the total larval period is 188 days, followed by 14 days of prepupal and 32 days of pupal periods; adult females are live about 102 days, whereas adult males survive 90 days. Other sources indicate that the larvae develop in decaying vegetable matter and usually take two years in development, the adult beetles live 2–4 months. A female can lay about 20-30 eggs but it depends on the place where they live. This species is considered as a serious pest on

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

and also a minor pest on plum, okra, oil palm, sugarcane, '' Persea bombycina'', rubber, banana, bamboo, ''

Delonix regia ''Delonix regia'' is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae native to Madagascar. It is noted for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display of orange-red flowers over summer. In many tropical par ...

'', Cacao tree, poinciana, cassia, litchi, potato, apple and pear.

References

* Rowland, J.M. (2011
Notes on nomenclature in Xylotrupes Hope (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Dynastini)

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q766532 Dynastinae Beetles described in 1830 Beetles of Asia