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Dynastes Tityus: Dynastes Tityus Dynastes Tityus, The Eastern Hercules Beetle, Is A Species of

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The eastern Hercules beetle is a large beetle found in the eastern US. Males can grow up to 60mm long with large horns. They eat decaying wood as larvae. Adults only live 6-8 months and emerge in summer to mate before dying in winter.

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Dynastes Tityus: Dynastes Tityus Dynastes Tityus, The Eastern Hercules Beetle, Is A Species of

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Ari Sudrajat
42 views4 pages
The eastern Hercules beetle is a large beetle found in the eastern US. Males can grow up to 60mm long with large horns. They eat decaying wood as larvae. Adults only live 6-8 months and emerge in summer to mate before dying in winter.

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Dynastes_tityus

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The eastern Hercules beetle is a large beetle found in the eastern US. Males can grow up to 60mm long with large horns. They eat decaying wood as larvae. Adults only live 6-8 months and emerge in summer to mate before dying in winter.

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42 views4 pages

Dynastes Tityus: Dynastes Tityus Dynastes Tityus, The Eastern Hercules Beetle, Is A Species of

Uploaded by

Ari Sudrajat
The eastern Hercules beetle is a large beetle found in the eastern US. Males can grow up to 60mm long with large horns. They eat decaying wood as larvae. Adults only live 6-8 months and emerge in summer to mate before dying in winter.

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Dynastes tityus

Dynastes tityus, the eastern Hercules beetle, is a species of


rhinoceros beetle that lives in the Eastern United States. The adult's Dynastes tityus
elytra are green, gray or tan, with black markings, and the whole
animal, including the male's horns, may reach 60 mm (2.4 in) in
length. The grubs feed on decaying wood from various trees.

Contents
Description
Distribution Adult male
Similar species
Ecology and life cycle
Predators
Taxonomy and names
Additional images
References Adult female

External links Scientific classification


Kingdom: Animalia

Description Phylum: Arthropoda


Class: Insecta
Adults of both sexes are 20–27 millimeters (0.8–1.1 in) wide, and
males are 40–60 millimeters (1.6–2.4 in) long,[1] including a long Order: Coleoptera
horn (the pronotal horn) which projects forwards from the thorax of Family: Scarabaeidae
the male; a second horn (the clypeal horn) projects upwards from
the head.[2] Dynastes tityus is therefore "among the longest and Genus: Dynastes
heaviest beetles in the United States".[3] The horns are used in Species: D. tityus
battles between rival males competing for a mate;[4] the size of the
Binomial name
horn reflects the availability of food when the beetle was
growing.[4] Despite the size of the horns, Dynastes tityus is Dynastes tityus
harmless to humans.[4] (Linnaeus, 1763)

The elytra are green, gray, or tan, usually with black mottling.[4] Synonyms
The pattern of spots is unique to each individual.[3] Beetles that are
found in the soil or in rotten wood often appear very dark, with the Scarabæus Tityus Linnaeus,
spots on the elytra obscured. This results from moisture which the 1763
shell has absorbed; when the elytra dry out, they return to their paler
color.[4] Occasionally, both elytra may be a uniform mahogany Scarabaeus marianus
color, or one elytron may be pale with dark blotches, while the other Linnaeus, 1767
is a plain mahogany color.[1]
Dynastes tityus was featured on a stamp issued by the United States Scarabaeus pennsylvanicus
Postal Service in October 1999.[1]
De Geer, 1774

Dynastes corniger Sternberg,


Distribution
1909
D. tityus lives in the eastern and southeastern United States, from Dynastes tityrus Andrews, 1916
New York state, Illinois and Indiana, south to Florida and the Gulf
(Lapsus)
of Mexico, with eastern Texas marking the western limit of its
range.[2]

Similar species
Three of the 6 species of Dynastes found in the New World occur in the United States or Mexico.[1] While D.
tityus is found in the eastern United States, Dynastes granti (the western Hercules beetle) occurs at higher
elevations in Arizona and Utah,[5] and Dynastes hyllus is found as far north as Tamaulipas, Mexico.[1] D.
tityus and D. granti are very similar, and it is possible to mate them and produce viable hybrids.[4]

Ecology and life cycle


Mating can last up to 50 minutes in D. tityus.[4] Subsequent batches of eggs are oviposited in the same site
until its resources are exhausted.[6] The larvae are large C-shaped grubs with white bodies and chewing
mouthparts,[4] which feed on decaying wood and litter within rotten trees and produce distinctive rectangular
fecal pellets about 10 mm (0.39 in) long.[6] After 12–18 months, the larvae pupate in late summer.[1] Adults
remain underground through the winter, initially remaining in their pupal cell. They emerge in the summer and
live for 6-8 months.[1] The adults' diet is not well known, but they have been observed lapping up the sap of
ash trees.[1]

Predators

Different predators attack different life stages of Dynastes tityus. The eggs are vulnerable to attack from a
predatory mite.[4] The grubs are eaten by mammals including skunks and raccoons, and soil-dwelling
arthropods, including centipedes, ground beetles, spiders and the maggots of Mydas flies.[4]

Taxonomy and names


Dynastes tityus is known by a number of common names, including eastern Hercules beetle, elephant beetle
and ox beetle.[1] It was first given a scientific name by Carl Linnaeus, in his 1763 work Centuria Insectorum,
where it was called Scarabaeus tityus; when Linnaeus' genus Scarabaeus was divided into smaller genera, S.
tityus was renamed Dynastes tityus.[7]

Additional images
Minor male from Adult female from A group of adults.
North Carolina North Carolina

References
1. B. M. Drees & John Jackman (1999). Field Guide to Texas Insects. Houston, Texas: Gulf
Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-87719-263-3.. Cite by "Eastern Hercules Beetle" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20100612024515/http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg144.html). Texas
A&M University. Archived from the original (http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg144.html) on
June 12, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
2. Jeffrey K. Barnes (July 28, 2003). "Eastern Hercules beetle" (https://web.archive.org/web/2010
0618223724/http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/dynastes.html). Arthropod Museum Notes.
University of Arkansas. 20. Archived from the original (http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/dynast
es.html) on June 18, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
3. Stephen Cresswell. "Dynastes tityus Hercules Beetle" (https://web.archive.org/web/201011241
84111/http://insectsofwestvirginia.net/b/dynastes-tityus.html). Insects of West Virginia. Archived
from the original (http://www.insectsofwestvirginia.net/b/dynastes-tityus.html) on November 24,
2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
4. "Hercules beetles" (http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/beetles/hercules/hercule
s.htm). Kentucky Insects. University of Kentucky. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
5. Eric R. Eaton & Kenn Kaufman (2007). "Rhinoceros Beetles and Others". Kaufman field guide
to insects of North America (https://books.google.com/books?id=aWVi0IF_jcQC). Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 146–147. ISBN 978-0-618-15310-7.
6. "Dynastes tityus (Linnaeus, 1763)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110607205247/http://www.u
nl.edu/museum/research/entomology/Guide/Scarabaeoidea/Scarabaeidae/Dynastinae/Dynasti
nae-Tribes/Dynastini/Dynastes/D-tityus/Dtityus.html). Generic Guide to New World Scarab
Beetles. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Archived from the original (http://www.unl.edu/museu
m/research/entomology/Guide/Scarabaeoidea/Scarabaeidae/Dynastinae/Dynastinae-Tribes/D
ynastini/Dynastes/D-tityus/Dtityus.html) on June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
7. "Scarabaeidae" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101213034328/http://www.nearctica.com/nomi
na/beetle/colscar.htm). Nomina Insecta Nearctica. Archived from the original (http://www.nearcti
ca.com/nomina/beetle/colscar.htm) on December 13, 2010. Retrieved June 16, 2010.

External links
"Eastern Hercules Beetle" (http://animalartalongtheway.blogspot.com/2010/10/eastern-hercule
s-beetle.html). Animal Art Along the Way. October 20, 2010. Includes an image of the postage
stamp featuring D. tityus.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dynastes_tityus&oldid=998988999"


This page was last edited on 7 January 2021, at 23:57 (UTC).

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