The frons has a long medial rear-pointing horn which is relatively as long as the humeral width (i.e. The elytra length is 30 mm hence two-thirds the body length and almost as long as the abdomen. It is relatively small, measuring about 45 mm in body length (note that some other rhinoceros beetles measure up to 150 mm in body length) and humeral width of about 22 mm which is almost half the body length ( Table 1). The dorsum of thorax consists of a triangular scutellum. The legs and the underside of the body are covered with short red hair. It is dark brown with a glazed (shinning) appearance and the apex of metatibia is strongly crenulate characteristic of the genus Oryctes. The inferred insect is a male rhinoceros beetle with a rounded convex back. Holotype, adult, (♂) Iringa Municipal (Southern Highlands) Tanzania, 7.46.0˚S, 35.42.0˚E Oryctes nasicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Accepted name). Taxonomic ranking of the specimen was donebased on published sources. Species identification was done based on the morphological characters of the beetle particularly its external anatomy including the horns, head, thorax, elytra, hairs and related measurements whereby the body length was measured from the frons tip to the abdominal tip the humeral width was measured as a distance between the extreme side margins of the shoulders. The specimen was preserved in 70% ethanol for morphological analysis. The insect specimen under the present study was an adult beetle collected during rainy season in May 2017 on a rotting wood stump in a small bushy biotope near the eastern boundary of Mkwawa University College of Education (MUCE) campus, some 2 km north of the Iringa Municipal Headquarters in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania (7˚46'0"South, 35˚42'0"East). nasicornis recently discovered in Tanzania. The present work reports and describes O. nasicornis is considered a rare species and has been given legal protection. Although found in a large number of countries, in some areas O. The species is well-known to inhabit the Palaearctic region (excluding the British Isles), being widespread in the Mediterranean basin up to Pakistan, the Near East and North Africa with no reported material in the Sub-Saharan African region including Tanzania. progressiva Prell, 1914 Oryctes progressivus Prell, 1909 Oryctes nasutus Mulsant, 1842 Oryctes simus Mulsant, 1842 Oryctes tuberculatus Mulsant, 1842 Oryctus nasutus Mulsant, 1842 and Scarabaeus nasicornis Linnaeus, 1758. Oryctes nasicornis has nine synonyms: Oryctes pumilus Minck, 1916 Oryctes continuus Minck, 1914 Oryctes nasicornis subsp. The wing cases are dark brown with a glazed appearance, giving it the impression of a shiny conker the legs and the underside of the body are covered with short red hair the larvae live on dead, rotten wood and can thus be found in rotting wood stumps and in sawdust taking around two years to develop in the larval stage, the adults emerge between March to May, flying around at dusk time in Europe the adults do not feed and live up until the Autumn. Males have a long curved horn on the head’s front top (frons), while the females are hornless. The European rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes nasicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) is a large flying beetle which can reach up to 60 mm, being one of the smallest species in the subfamily Dynastinae, but is still one of the largest and heaviest beetles found in Europe, and the only representative of this subfamily found in Northern Europe. Many species of rhinoceros beetles are believed to originate in the rainforest and forest regions of central and southern America. The rhinoceros beetles also have rounded convex backs whose coloration varies from black to mottled greenish grey some are shiny, almost metallic, whereas others may be covered with short fine hairs, giving them a velveteen appearance. The horn size generally provides a good indicator of the nutritional status and physical health of the beetle. In fact, the sexes of these insects are usually dimorphic (except Phileurini and some Cyclocephalini and Pentodontini) with males having either horns or enlarged tubercles or foretarsi. The horns are used for dual purposes including digging underground and fighting other males for the right to mate. Their common names refer to the characteristic horns borne on the top of the males of most species in the group resembling a rhinoceros the horns can be as long as two-thirds the total body size and there can be other horns pointing forward from the centre of the thorax while the females are hornless. They are among the largest and strongest beetles in the world, reaching more than 150 mm (6 in) in length and able to lift up to 850 times their own body weight, but are completely harmless to humans because they cannot bite or sting. The rhinoceros beetles, which are also called the rhino beetles or horn beetles, belong to many genera in the subfamily Dynastinae of the family Scarabaeidae which also includes the dung beetles.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |