Chalcosoma caucasus

Chalcosoma caucasus (Caucasus beetle) (Thai : ด้วงกวางเขาสามจันทร์) is a species of beetle in the family Scarabaeidae. This species is a senior synonym of Chalcosoma caucasus caucasus or Chalcosoma chiron chiron referred as Java Caucasus, Chalcosoma janssensi referred as Sumatra Caucasus, Chalcosoma caucasus belangeri referred as Vietnamese Caucasus, and Chalcosoma caucasus kirbyi referred as Malay Caucasus.[1][2]

Chalcosoma caucasus

Caucasus beetle
Male of Chalcosoma caucasus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Scarabaeidae
Subfamily:
Dynastinae
Genus:
Chalcosoma
Species:
C. caucasus
Binomial name
Chalcosoma caucasus
(Fabricius, 1801)

Description

Chalcosoma caucasus males can reach a length of 90–130 millimetres (3.5–5.1 in), while females grow to 50-60mm.[3] Caucasus beetles are the largest of the genus Chalcosoma and one of Asia's largest beetles. They have a striking sexual dimorphism. The males have specialised enormous, curved horns on the head and thorax that they use to fight with each other to gain mating rights with females. Females are significantly smaller. The elytra of the females have a velvety texture, as they are covered by tiny hairs.[3] When males enter into contests for females[3] the fighting spirit is as strong as in Hercules Beetle of South America. Because they can be captured throughout the year the acquisition of these beetles is easy and the price is quite low. Caucasus beetles differ from chalcosoma atlas beetles (for which they are often mistaken) in that they have a small tooth on their lower horns.

Their grubs go through 3 stages, l1, l2, and l3. The l1 has a skull diameter of 2mm, l2 has a 7mm skull, and the largest (l3) can have a skull diameter of 13 mm. Their grubs generally live underground for 12–15 months; the larger males remain grubs longer than females . Their pupae live 1–2 months, while the adults live for 3–5 months. Females live longer than males.[4]

Distribution

This species can be found from Malaysia south into Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Malay Peninsula, Indochina) and Thailand in East region (Chanthaburi province, Sa Kaeo province).[5]

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References
  1. "Taxon profile: Chalcosoma chiron (Olivier, 1789)". BioLib.cz. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  2. Virtual Beetle
  3. Natural World
  4. The breeding manual of a Chalcosoma caucasus Archived March 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Insect Life Forms


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