Eastern Hercules beetle
The eastern Hercules beetle is one of the biggest and heaviest beetles in the United States. The male has two big horns, one on his head and one on his back. Its wing cases are green, grey or tan with black spots, and every beetle has its own spot pattern.
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Fun facts
It changes colour with the weather. In dry air it is yellow-green, and when it gets damp it turns dark brown.
Males use their horns to wrestle each other.
Its grubs live in rotting wood for 12 to 18 months before they change into beetles.
A female can lay up to 100 eggs near the bottom of an old tree.
In 1999 it was put on a United States postage stamp.
Most asked questions about Eastern Hercules beetle
?Is the Hercules beetle dangerous?
No. Its horns look scary, but it is completely harmless to people.
?How big is the eastern Hercules beetle?
Males can be 4 to 6 centimetres long, including the horn.
?What does a Hercules beetle eat?
The grubs eat rotting wood, and the grown-ups lick tree sap.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dynastes tityus
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1763
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Scarabaeidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Scarabaeidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Elephant beetle, Ox beetle
Where the facts come from
- Dynastes tityus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by David Hill. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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