Scarab Beetle
Here’s Steve Jackson’s beetle again, this time viewed from the side.
A few people wrote in to say that they were surprised to hear that scarabs appear in the U.S. I did a little digging, and it turns out that there are about 1,375 species in the U.S. in family Scarabaeidae.
It appears that males are divided into two categories: smaller “minor” males and larger “major” males. Major males of Strategus aloeus can reach 6cm in length–nearly double the size of this beetle! The division seems to be related to the amount of nutrition provided to the developing young; only the largest larvae will develop into major males so it is essential that the larvae receive as much food as possible–and that the larvae wait until all the food in the brood ball has been consumed before pupating.
This male may have been reared on a smaller brood ball, or he may have received fewer and/or smaller feedings as a larva. In dung beetles (another scarab), if the female rears the brood alone, only large females are physically capable of ferrying enough provender to her larvae to rear a major son. Ashlee L. Child has written a paper about major and minor development as a result of nutrition and brood care. Check it out.
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
ZWarrior said,
November 13, 2007 @ 9:10 am
That is one huge bug. Very cool though.
David Brady said,
November 13, 2007 @ 7:41 pm
The scary thing is, as a minor male it’s actually small for its species. Major males are half again as long. Picture the same bug reaching all the way back to the crease in Steve’s hand, and tall enough that you can only see the knuckle of his index finger…. yikes!
Insect Picture of the Day » Beetle said,
April 15, 2008 @ 8:32 am
[...] had another Ox beetle on the site in the past; and although this photo was also taken in Texas I’m not too sure [...]