Celebrity profile: Cornizuelo the

rhinoceros beetle.

Where do you like to hangout?

“I can be found from Costa Rica.Sometimes you can found me
near the water area or you can found me on the tree.”
How can people recognize you?
“I have horns but if I a female I will do not have horn.I have very
tough and hand outer shells.I can grow 3 incches or more in length.I
have golden colour on my back shell.”
What do you like to eat?
“I like to eat dedwoods from trees, grasses leaves,fungus and fruits.”
What sort of things don’t you like?
“I dont like see tress being chopped. If tress being choopped it is not
safe for me. I also don’t like snake and birds because they trying to
eat me.”
What aresome of your favourite thing?
“I like when nothing happend to the rainforest. I like when snake and
bird not trying to eat me”
Do you know any rhinoceros beetle joke?
“NO.”
Rhinoceros Beetle
Anywhere Costa Rica > Flora and Fauna > Costa Rica Invertebrates > Rhinoceros Beetle
Habitat
Lowland rainforest is suitable for this beetle, but mature forest is required for the beetle to
survive. In younger stages, it lives inside large fallen trees.

Range
The rhinoceros beetle can be found from southern Mexico down to northern Colombia and
northern Venezuela.

National Parks
Palo Verde National Park, Corcovado National Park, Tortuguero National Park, and Caño
Negro Wildlife Refuge.

Physical Description
Among Costa Rican insects, this beetle fits the bill to “shock and amaze.” The rhino is one of
the strongest insects in the world with relation to its body size, and is the largest beetle within
the country. The male is unmistakable with his massive size and long, intimidating horn that
curves up. He has additional, shorter horns that project out from his head, but the long one is
used for fighting. Females are smaller and do not have such a dramatically adorned head. The
light to dark brown rhinoceros beetle can look almost velvety because it has fine, short hairs
over the exoskeleton. This rhinoceros can fly short distances, although its heavy body makes
it rather ungraceful in flight.

The hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) takes second in size compared to the rhinoceros, and
the hercules has a second long horn curving down towards the lower one. It is not as hairy.

Biology and Natural History

Males look built to fight, and they are. Two males will approach each other to compete, often
in a tree. They grapple with their horns, and the winner is whoever first lifts his opponent off
his feet and knocks him over. Males fight over females and feeding sites, but they are not very
aggressive otherwise.

These large, impressive beetles come from humble means. The entire lifespan of the
rhinoceros beetle is 3 to 4 years, but approximately 2 of those years are spent as a grub. In the
grub, or larval stage, the beetle munches on decaying wood on the inside of a fallen tree.
Since trees in the Tropics decay very quickly and the grubs develop slowly, the grubs will
become exposed or run out of food unless they are in a large fallen tree. This is why
Megasoma elephas populations can only live in forest mature enough to have a sufficient
number of large, fallen trees. Unfortunately, because many parts of tropical lowlands have
been deforested, or at least overcut, the rhinoceros beetle is rare and struggling to survive.

Diet
In its younger stages this insect digests decaying wood. As an adult it feeds on fruit and sap.
Height/Weight
Adults weigh between 18 and 28 g. Males are between 55 and 80 mm long. Females are
lighter but can be slightly longer.

Taxonomy
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae

Sources
Howden, H. F. in Janzen, Daniel H. Costa Rican Natural History. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1983.
Kricher, John. A Neotropical Companion: an introduction to the animals, plants, and
ecosystems of the New World tropics. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ, 1997.