Rhinoceros beetle - eupatorus gracilicornis

Rhinoceros beetle - eupatorus gracilicornis

The genus Eupatorus belongs to the beetles from the family of scarab beetles, which can be found in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea.

Look:
The species of the genus Eupatorus are large beetles ranging in size from 40 to 100 millimeters. They are bright and smooth. The pronotum and legs are black, while the wing covers are often more or less yellowish brown. As is usual with horn beetles (Dynastinae), the males are significantly larger than the females and have strong horns on their heads and pronotums, which the females lack. In this genus, males usually have a long horn on their head and two horns on either side of the pronotum. These horns are curved, smooth and tapered. The pair of central horns on the pronotum may be reduced to sharp nodules. The front legs have three teeth on the outside of the tip.

Distribution:
The genus Eupatorus is widespread in Southeast Asia and includes the following species

• Eupatorus birmanicus Arrow, 1908 – Myanmar
• Eupatorus endoi Nagai, 1999 – Vietnam
• Eupatorus gracilicornis, also known as the five-horned beetle, Arrow, 1908 – India (Assam), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam (Tonkin)
• Eupatorus hardwickei (Hope, 1831) – Himalayas, India (Sikkim), Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam (Tonkin)
• Eupatorus siamensis (Laporte de Castelnau, 1867) – Thailand, Vietnam (Annam, Cochinchina)
• Eupatorus sukkiti Miyashita & Arnaud, 1997 – Myanmar, People's Republic of China (Yunnan)

Life cycle:
The life cycle of the genus Eupatorus, described using the example of Eupatorus gracilicornis: The flight, mating and egg-laying period of the adult beetles is in autumn, after which they die. The eggs are laid in dead wood. The larval stage lasts up to two years.