Surely the question, what is the largest beetle in the world, was asked by almost every person at least once in his life. Such thoughts often arise when meeting with a variety of arthropods somewhere in a park or forest. It would seem that the relative giant for central Russia is the rhinoceros beetle or the same May beetle, but still, subconsciously, anyone who is interested in nature suspects that such sizes are not the limit. This is absolutely true, because the world knows individuals whose body length reaches 20 centimeters. Today we would like to pay attention to the largest beetle in the world and tell everything about it, starting with the name, description and habitat, and ending with its main competitors for the title of giant of the insect class.
A huge barbel that has no equal
To date, science knows only one representative of the Coleoptera order, the size of which is very impressive. This beetle, called the woodcutter-titanium, is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records as a champion in size and dimensions. The body length of the giant of the insect world can reach 22 cm. However, most individuals growonly up to 13 cm. This fact does not in the least detract from the superiority of the titanium lumberjack over other representatives that claim to be the largest beetles in the world, because only single individuals from all existing on Earth (regardless of name and species) are able to reach super-large sizes along with own relatives. By the way, it is worth saying that the females of this individual are always larger than the males.
View description
The beetle has an elongated body, slightly expanding downwards. The main color varies in three colors: the head and the beginning of the body are almost black, and the rest of the body and wings are a transition from brown to burgundy. The largest beetle in the world has a rather wide but flattened body. That is why in the lateral projection it looks a bit like a concave lens. The head of this arthropod is directed straight ahead. The place of its connection with the body is protected by three spikes. They are slightly pointed and are absolutely symmetrical on both sides. The eyes of the beetle are in the pits on the muzzle. The antennae are attached to the head directly next to them. In males, they are much larger and longer than in females. The titan has 3 pairs of limbs. The beetle is predominantly nocturnal, but during the day it prefers to hide in dry stumps or under fallen leaves and branches. The peak of activity of this insect is reached at dusk - during this period it crawls out from under the leaves and takes off. Males are very sensitive to light rays, so they often fall into the traps of entomological researchers.
Titan woodcutter habitat
The largest beetle in the world, the titan lumberjack, belongs to the family of barbels. The habitat of this arthropod is very extensive. It can be found in the wild in Latin America, from Peru, Ecuador, Suriname and Colombia to Bolivia and central Brazil. It can be said that the woodcutter-titan lives in the neotropical zoogeographical complex. In our latitudes, it is not found due to too low humidity and insufficiently high body temperature.
Lifestyle and reproduction
The life expectancy of an adult (imago) of the largest beetle in the world, the photo of which can be seen in the presented material, is from three to five weeks. During this period of time, the animal does not feed on anything at all, living by using the previously accumulated energy reserves. How the transformation of the larva of the woodcutter-titanium into a sexually mature individual occurs has not been clarified to date. This is due to the fact that scientists have not yet been able to detect it, while they have long studied adult barbels. Experts suggest that at this stage of life, the beetle should develop in the roots of old trees. The pupation process presumably takes place in soil or soil.
Other representatives of the class of insects stepping on the heels of the woodcutter-titanium
The largest and most terrible beetles in the world, as practice shows, live mainly in tropicallatitudes. Most often they do not pose any danger to humans, being peaceful insects. It is noteworthy that many tourists and residents of their habitats take the giants in their hands completely fearlessly, without fear of consequences. We would like to compile the top 10 largest beetles in the world and briefly describe each of them:
- The hero of our today's article remains the undisputed leader. The first place belongs to the titan lumberjack beetle.
- Hercules beetle, the males of which reach sizes exceeding 17 cm.
- Krupnozub deer-horned, the largest specimen of which was discovered by scientists in Peru. Its length was about 15 cm.
- Elephant beetle - 12cm male, 8cm female.
- Goliath beetle living in Africa and reaching a length of 11 cm.
- Relic barbel, called in some sources a lumberjack or Ussuri, usually grows over 10 cm in length.
- The stag beetle is one of the largest beetles in the world, listed in the Red Book. Its dimensions are about 9 cm, but in rare cases, especially large individuals can grow up to 12-14 cm.
- Dung beetle, large specimens of which reach a size of 7 cm.
- The inhabitant of the water is a beetle called the big water-lover. It grows to almost 5 cm.
- A scarab beetle reaching 4.1 cm in adulthood.
Representative of the Red Book
One of the largest beetles in the world, the deer, reaches a length of 8.8 centimeters. At present, this beautiful and majesticrepresentative of the animal world is on the verge of extinction in some regions of the planet. That is why it is included in the list of protected species in Europe and Asia. The insect is quite rare, but you can see it even on the territory of the allied CIS countries: in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine.
The stag beetle is a beautiful insect class arthropod that belongs to the stag family. Most often, he prefers to live in oak forests or deciduous forests. All males have enlarged mandibles, which are most often called "horns" by people. In this species, sexual dimorphism is quite strongly developed: females are smaller than males and they completely lack mandibles. Beetle larvae develop in dead trees for quite a long time - from 4 to 6 years, before turning into a sexually mature individual. Scientists have concluded that the population of stag beetles has declined due to human development of new territories, which entails rapid deforestation.
Instead of a conclusion
Beetles are known to inhabit almost the entire planet, preferring to stay away from Antarctica and places that are covered with snow and ice most of the time. In the development of the ecosystem as a whole, and in soil formation in particular, their role is invaluable. By processing rotten trees and loosening the soil, they are of great benefit to all living things around. It is worth remembering this in order to preserve the we alth given to humanity by the Almighty.
