Pictured here in an anatomical drawing
Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Palanasus
Species: P. simeiostinplatis
Description:
The Congo shovel beetle (Palanasus simeiostinplatis) is a large species of flower chafer native to the Congo Savannah in Africa. It is one of the heaviest extant beetles in the Novicene. Males tend to be around 55 to 120 millimeters, and females are 60 to 80 millimeters long. Males tend to be longer because they use their horns for intraspecies competition. The beetle is brownish-orange, with two light brown stripes on the sides of the thorax and elytra and a brown spot on the thorax. It has a gray color on their horns, the top of their heads, and legs. The horn has two upturned sides, allowing them to dig into the soil of the savanna. The feet are also designated to climb trees.
Distribution and Habitat:
These beetles live in open woodlands and savannas with plenty of trees to complete their life cycle. However, some subspecies inhabit tropical rainforests.
Life Cycle:
The Congo shovel beetle's life cycle mainly relies on the acacia trees of the savanna. A female beetle will dig a hole underneath an acacia tree and lay up to 100 eggs, which usually start at the beginning of the wet season. The eggs will hatch 28 days after the female lays them. They will hatch into grubs, which eat plant matter, fungi, and other detritus. It goes through three instar stages in its larval stage. The first instar stage is about 50 days, the second stage is about 55 days, and the last stage can be up to 500 days. This larval stage lasts up to two years before entering the pupal stage. When they enter the pupal stage, they bury about a meter and wait for the next wet season to emerge. Once the rains arrive, they will surface in massive numbers in their fully formed adult stage. After this, they can live up to 3 to 6 years.
The Life Cycle of the Congo Shovel Beetle
Behavior and Ecology
Diet
Beetle larvae mainly eat dead or decaying plant matter and the fungal network that connects the trees of the savanna. Adult beetles, on the other hand, eat mainly fruit (both rotting and fresh), sap, and flower nectar.
General Behavior
These beetles mostly rest on trees during the day, becoming more active during dawn and dusk. They will usually forage for food during this time unless they are in a place with a portion of food. They will also travel long distances when searching for a mate. Using a combination of pheromones and a loud clicking sound made by hitting their wings together, these beetles can communicate over kilometers.
Combat Behavior Between Males
Males are highly territorial when it comes to their trees. Many females can exist in one location, but males will fight over an area, mainly for mating rights and food. Males will face each other, and combat will begin. The goal of each male is to try to flick the male off the tree and have them fall to the ground. They will use their horns to get underneath the other beetle and flick their head. They are powerful for their size, allowing them to carry 110 times their body weight. These fights can cause physical injury to the male beetles, both from their horns and the fall from the tops of the trees. But, they are moderately hardy, and falling from these heights is not as much of a death sentence as if a vertebrate fell from a proportional height.