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Name : Hercules beetle ( Dynastes Herakles )
Where it lives : rain forest of Central and South America , plus a few Caribbean islands
Male Hercules beetles have giant horns for fighting over females.
What it run through : Rotting wood ( as a larva ) , fruit and tree diagram sap ( as an adult )
Why it ’s awesome :
Hercules beetles are among the largest fast insects in the man , with males of some race measuring up to 6.8 inches ( 17.2 centimetre ) long . They are also extraordinarily substantial and can countermand objects hundred of times their own weight , according to theAmerican Museum of Natural History .
" The Demigod Hercules was famed for his strength , and the Hercules beetle can burrow its way out of hard dry land and can lift surprisingly sonorous objects,“Max Barclay , conservator of beetles , at the Natural History Museum in , London , told Live Science in an email . " It is well - named because you could not well contain a Hercules beetle in your hired hand without it storm its path out . "
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Male sport magnificent horns , which they utilise to fight other Male and impress females .
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" male utilise the two horns together like a giant pair of tweezer to grasp each other and throw each other , the strongest usually winning the female , " Barclay say . The Hercules beetle male person are " have a forfeiture , by investing in clumsy and otherwise unnecessary bodily structure that make them vulnerable but also more attractive , " Barclay bring .
Females place up to 100 ball , which incubate after around 30 Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . The larvae then go through three stages of metamorphosis , which endure up to two years . They go from midget eggs to hand - sized grubs , live underground and getting bigger and bigger . They then get in the pupa point , where they encase themselves in a case before violate out as fully grown adults .
Like the grownup , Hercules beetle larvae are Brobdingnagian . A 2018 video from Nat Geo WILD showed this incredible transformation in all its glory .
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