Megasoma

Megasoma
	Megasoma elephas, the elephant beetle
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Scarabaeidae
Tribe:	Dynastini
Genus:	Megasoma; Kirby, 1825
Type species
	Megasoma actaeon (Linnaeus, 1758);
Synonyms
	Megalosoma Burmeister, 1847 ; Megasominus Casey, 1915 ; Lycophontes Bruch, 1910

Megasoma is a rhinoceros beetle genus. Commonly known as the elephant beetles, Megasoma species are found from the southern half of North America to most of South America.

Appearance

Megasoma are generally large in size (as indicated by the name, which is "large body" in Greek). As a group, the genus contains some of the largest beetle species known. However, there are small species of this genus as well. The largest can be up to 135 mm, while small ones like Megasoma punctulatum can be around 20 mm.

Many Megasoma species (Megasoma elephas, Megasoma thersites, Megasoma gyas, Megasoma cedrosa, Megasoma anubis, Megasoma occidentale, Megasoma joergenseni, Megasoma vogti) have thin microscopic hairs (setae) covering nearly their entire bodies, giving the appearance of being pale or orange.

Males of most species have large horns that they use to wrestle with other males. Females do not have horns.

Diet

Larvae feed on tree or shrub roots. Adults usually drink tree sap or suck juice from fruit.

Behavior and Habitat

Adult Megasoma are nocturnal and are attracted to lights, and are often seen resting in trees.

Species list[1]

Megasoma actaeon Linnaeus, 1758
Megasoma anubis Chevrolat, 1836
Megasoma cedrosa Hardy, 1972
Megasoma elephas Fabricius, 1775
Megasoma fujitai Nagai 2003
Megasoma gyas Herbst, 1785
Megasoma hermes Prandi, 2016
Megasoma janus Felsche, 2006
Megasoma joergenseni Bruch, 1910
Megasoma lecontei Hardy, 1972
Megasoma mars Reiche, 1852
Megasoma nogueirai Morón, 2005
Megasoma occidentale Bolivar, Pieltain, Jimenez-asua & Martinez, 1963
Megasoma pachecoi Cartwright, 1963
Megasoma punctulatum Cartwright, 1952
Megasoma ramirezorum Silvestre et Arnaud, 2002
Megasoma rex Prandi, 2018
Megasoma sleeperi Hardy, 1972
Megasoma svobodaorum Krajcik, 2009
Megasoma thersites LeConte, 1861
Megasoma vazdemelloi Prandi, 2018
Megasoma vogti Cartwright, 1963

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References

2019 winter Bekuwa No.70

Kirby, W. 1825. A description of such genera and species of insects, as alluded to in the "Introduction to Entomology" of Messrs. Kirby and Spence, as appear not to have been before sufficiently noticed or described. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 14: 563–572. Internet Archive [original description: p. 566]
Schoolmeesters P. 2017. Scarabs: World Scarabaeidae Database (version Jul 2016). In: Roskov Y., Abucay L., Orrell T., Nicolson D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Bourgoin T., DeWalt R.E., Decock W., De Wever A., Nieukerken E. van, Zarucchi J., Penev L., eds. 2017. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 30 January 2017. Digital resource at www.catalogueoflife.org/col. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. ISSN 2405-8858. Reference page.
2019 winter Bekuwa No.70 Megasoma group

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[GWR-1] 2019 winter Bekuwa No.70