This is one monster of a beetle! I do not have small hands, and this guy was spanning the width of four fingers. Check out the claws on the ends of his legs too; actually, this was the second rhinoceros beetle I found on the trip, and I learned the hard way that those little claws can have one serious pinch! Seriously, he didn't break my skin - but you could feel him trying!

Wikipedia gives the common name "Princess beetle" for this genus - but I don't know what this male would have thought of that name!

Although in reality these guys are quite harmless, he certainly struck a few ferocious poses! Here he is, balancing on four feet and threatening me with the other two. At other times he stood fully on just his rear two feet, waving about his front four legs at me.

The other fun thing he was doing was buzzing, or hissing at me. Each time he detected movement - I might move the camera in my other hand - he would go off: BZZZZZZ!! BZZZZZZ!! The museum factsheet explains: "The fearsome appearance of these Xylotrupes beetles is increased by the loud hissing squeaks they give when disturbed ... The hissing squeak is merely bluff and is produced by rubbing the abdomen against the ends of the wing covers; if a squeaking beetle is examined closely, the abdomen can be seen moving in time with the squeaks." This was certainly true for this guy, as I managed to see him generate the hissing sound.

There was one other very prominent difference between X. gideon and the other rhinoceros beetle I found earlier in the trip: their horns were markedly different. X. gideon has very elaborate, forked horns: one on his thorax (the top horn), and one above his head (the bottom horn). As my earlier photos were on non-viewable storage, I was working from memory, but I was sure I would have noticed the forked horns if I'd seen them earlier.

It got me wondering whether this was a male and the earlier a female, but in actual fact, the female X. gideon has no horns at all. My earlier introduction to the family was an entirely different species...

Working from the museum fact sheet, I'm making a best guess that this guy is H. australicus. The museum describes this species as rare. The reason I say "best guess" is that the museum says the species as "can be identified by its two short horns on the thorax instead of one long one. It has an unbranched horn with a scalloped inner edge on its head.".

As can be seen in these photos, there is the appearance of two horns on the thorax, but on closer inspection (below), it actually appears as one broad, but forked horn. Secondly, whilst having an unbranched horn on the head, it is not "scalloped" as described. (I will see what I can do to get a positive ID on this one after publication)

The apparently single, but broad and forked thorax horn can be better seen in this poor quality image.

This beetle was notably smaller than X. gideon although I have no way of knowing if it was full-grown. It was far less ferocious, in that it did not rear up to threaten me, but it was no less noisy; buzzing and hissing away. As can be seen here, its claws were also far less powerful - feeling more like a tickle than a pinch.

Topic Area - Bugs + Critter keeper + Scientists believe sex is not required for speciation + Tasmanian threatened species habitat to be logged...

Topic Area - Bugs + Rhinoceros Beetles (Family Scarabaeidae, Subfamily Dynastinae) + Field Trip Update 2 + What manner of beast is a phasmid?

Topic Area - Bugs + What manner of beast is a phasmid? + Tribute to Steve Irwin

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