Originally published in The Manitoban, November 10, 2010.
Love 'em or hate 'em, insects are
arguably the most important animals on earth. They are often viewed
as the most successful animals on the planet. Many insects are
essential for the continuation of life on earth as we know it
due to their roles as plant pollinators and degraders of waste
products left by other organisms, which prevents massive build-up of
organic wastes that would otherwise bury the planet in filth. In fact, about
two-thirds of all flowering plants are pollinated by insects.
Insects
are also among the most important carriers of and vectors for
diseases that kill millions of humans and other economically
important mammals annually. Insects are frequently used as models in
scientific research—due to their (often) small size and rapid
generation times, many can be bred quickly and in large numbers in
laboratories for experimentation in various areas, including genetics
and medicine.
Insects have been around for a long time, too—at
least 400 million years. For comparison, the first mammals appeared
roughly 225 million years ago. Man are there lots of insects!
Estimates vary, but it is thought that there are anywhere from six to
ten million living species of insects alive today, and these species
are grouped into 29 different orders.
Beetles make up the order Coleoptera
which, I don't mind telling you, with over 360, 000 described
species, is the largest order of insects in the world. In fact, at
least 25% of all species rambling about the planet today are beetles.
How will you know if you are looking at one of these wonderful,
wildly abundant beetles or just some other type of insect, you might
want to know?
Beetles are perhaps most easily recognized by their two
sets of wings. One set is the kind of wing you think of when you
imagine insects flying (I'm sure you imagine insects flying quite
often), while the other set of wings, called elytra, are hardened
into a protective, leathery sort of cover that protects the more
delicate wings underneath, and may also act as aerofoils.
The order Coleoptera is amazingly diverse and contains both the largest and
some of the smallest insects on the planet today. It is about one of
the largest living insects that you, the enthralled reader, are going
to learn—the Hercules beetle.
The Hercules beetle, Dynastes hercules, is a type of
rhinoceros beetle (subfamily Dynastinae) and is a member of the
family Scarabaeidae, the scarab beetles. These Hercs, as I'll call
them, are native to South and Central American rainforests and the
Lesser Antilles. They range from 50 to 170mm (over 6 inches) in body
length—making them one of the world's largest beetles1 and the largest of the six beetles in the genus Dynastes. As
if their size weren't impressive enough, male Hercs have two big
horns that can be even longer than their body; one that comes from
the lower (ventral) portion of the head, curving upward, and another
that comes from the thorax at the base of the upper (dorsal) region
of the head curving downward, like a pair of pincers or pliers. When males
fight, they try to pick one another up with their horns and slam them
headfirst to the ground. Females lack horns.
Hercules beetles are not poisonous and they do not attack humans.
They mostly just hang out in leaf litter trying to survive the
decimation of the rainforest while still managing to look really cool and menacing. They
are herbivorous, the larvae eat rotting wood and dung while adults
feed on decaying fruit and vegetable matter. Again, just cleaning up
the garbage. Really, they are humble civil servants of the
rainforest, never complaining about their smelly job or asking for
recognition, even though they deserve it.
Hercs can live for about 1.5
years, only 3 to 4 months of which are spent as adults. They are
primarily nocturnal and are strongly attracted to light.
My favourite thing about Hercs is that if you correct for size,
Hercules beetles are, proportionally, the strongest animals on the
planet. They are able to lift up to 850 times their own body weight!
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