Sabertooth longhorn beetle
The sabertooth longhorn beetle is a giant beetle from the rainforests of South America. The males have enormous jaws that look like a pair of curved swords. With its jaws, it is one of the longest beetles in the whole world.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The longest one ever measured, jaws included, was 17.7 centimetres long. That is longer than a grown-up's hand.
Most of its life it is a larva hidden inside wood. That baby stage can last up to 10 years.
The grown-up beetle lives only a few months. In that short time it flies off to find a partner and lay eggs.
The mother lays her eggs under the bark of dead or dying trees.
The larvae dig long tunnels in the soft wood, more than a metre long and as wide as your palm.
Most asked questions about Sabertooth longhorn beetle
?How big is the sabertooth longhorn beetle?
With its jaws, the biggest one ever found was 17.7 centimetres long, which makes it one of the longest beetles in the world.
?Where does the sabertooth longhorn beetle live?
In the rainforests of South America, for example in Brazil, Peru and Colombia.
?How long does the sabertooth longhorn beetle live?
The larva can live inside wood for up to 10 years, but the grown-up beetle lives only a few months.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Macrodontia cervicornis
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Cerambycidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Cerambycidae
- Lives on
- South America
Where the facts come from
- Macrodontia cervicornis (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 Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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