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Oryctes nasicornis
Nice looking Rhinoceros Beetles. About once a week we get one crash landing outside the office. They display some sexual dimorphism, making it easy for us to tell you this one's a male. The 'horns' are used by the males to battle over females. Anyone know which one this is?
Just below a forest reserve on the Western slopes, Ecuador.
They are terrible at flying. Really awful.
Haha, have to laugh at what you wrote under "Notes", and what Craig wrote about the British ones. Here in the Philippines too they seem to crash and bang into everything! But they are VERY good at clinging onto something... And hissing at you when they get upset... We have quite a few round here, and they regularly end up on their backs, waving their legs helplessly in the air. I try to do the decent thing and help them onto their feet. But then they simply will NOT let go of whatever I've used to turn them over, no matter how vigorously I try and shake them off... Me: flapping wildly, beetle: hissing angrily... You get the picture :-}
Wow! What a handsome warrior. The flying thing is the same with the Stag Beetles here in the UK. Rubbish! They sound like a WW2 Lancaster bomber going by though!
Spotted on Nov 15, 2011
Submitted on Nov 15, 2011
