Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Elephant Beetle
Elephant Beetle
Kingdom Anamilia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Insecta
Order Coleoptera
Family Scarabaeidae
Genus Megasoma
Species M. elephas
The elephant beetle (Megasoma elephas) is a member of the family Scarabaeidae. Elephant
beetles are located in southern Mexico, Central America, and in South American
Description:
Elephant beetles are black in color and covered with a coat of fine microscopic hairs. The hairs
grow particularly thick on the beetle's elytra. The hairs give the beetle's body a yellowish color.
Males have two horns protruding from the head and another from the prothorax. Females have no
horns. The horns are used for defense, and in competition among males for food and mates. In
size, elephant beetles range between 7 and 12 cm (2.75–4.75 in); males are sometimes even
bigger. Males are around 2 to 3 times bigger than the females.
LIFE CYCLE:
Elephant beetle larvae develop in large decaying logs and take up to three years to develop into
adult beetles, depending upon the subspecies. The female elephant beetle lays her eggs inside the
decaying log or in the ground. Some weeks after that (usually 3) the eggs hatch into C-shaped
larvae, white grubs with brown heads and six legs. The larval stage lasts around 29 months,
during which time the grubs consume organic matter. The third and last stage, the pupal stage,
lasts around 5 weeks at a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. The life span of an adult elephant
beetle is around one to three months.
Food:
Elephant beetles eat the sap of particular trees and ripened fallen fruits. In captivity, they also eat
exotic fruits such as pineapples, longan, lychee fruit, and bark from certain trees like
the poinciana.
Elephant beetles live in rainforests and are mainly active during the night. They are able to
maintain a high internal body heat when foraging despite reduced ambient temperature. Elephant
beetle population has been depleted by the destruction of the rain-forests, which has reduced
their grounds for mating. In some countries such as Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and others in Central
America the male's head is used as a charm necklace, decorated with gold. This has affected the
population severely.
Control:
Cultural Control:
Beetles can be excluded with netting of a suitable mesh size (20 mm mesh or less).
Manual removal from trees is sometimes undertaken. Larvae feed on rotting organic matter and
heavy mulching of trees may attract beetles to lay their eggs in this material. This will increase
the problem in subsequent seasons.
Biological
Chemical