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Project Noah Nature School
Cacodaemon sp.
Photo says it all. Very unique!
Rainforest. Wehea Protected Forest of East Kalimantan, Indonesia (island of Borneo)
Spotted on Jul 26, 2012
Submitted on Sep 26, 2012
10 Comments
So, so, Chun is checking my flickr records ;-)... That was a long time ago...
I agree, genus is definitely Cacodaemon, but I don't think it is Spinosus, look again at the spikes on the anterior shield. It is a pity that there are no more infos and pictures about this cool beetle.
@Ashish: real spots, no mites!
Is beetle have those red spots are in its texture or affected by mites...?
Hi bayucca, I know you would comment because we have both encountered a similar beetle on Flickr before - http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/49...
The genus is distinguishable but identifying the exact species is challenging.
I believe you are right bayucca as I am not 100% sure that my suggestion is right. I have done some deeper research this genus and found out that there are about 21 species recorded in Southeast Asia.
After comparing all these species, I realized that Cacodaemon spinosus is the closest match based on the available description and photographs on the Internet. I still cannot confirm on the species ID yet though.
@Chun! Excellent job! I would certainly and immediately agree with your ID. I would not challenge your ID, but just wanted you to consider my thoughts about your beetle. I think the genus looks quite fine. About the species I have some questions and I only focus on the morphologic things I see with my eyes. Borneensis has more rounded body than Kara's beetle, which looks more "flat". I see 2 spikes on the left and right side of the anterior shield in Borneensis, which I can't see on Kara's beetle. In addition the spikes in Kara's beetle are much longer than in Borneensis. What do you think about??
Handsome, indeed.
Thanks ChunXingWong for the ID!
Nice beetle spotting, KaraNorby.
There are very few photographs of these spiky beetles in the Internet.
Your spotting is a great contribution to Project Noah.
Thank you so much for catching that Aaron! the pic I uploaded before this one was in Wisconsin, and it just saved the previous location.. sorry for confusing you :) It would be pretty neat to have these in Wisco
Hi, Kara. I was a bit confused at first by the location and then saw the Habitat description stating Borneo. Can you please edit this one and change the official location on the map? Thanks and what a great looking insect! :-)
I've seen spiders with bodies like this, but everything else about this spotting says "Beetle". Very interesting find.