Eastern hercules beetle

I recently received an email from Claudia Phillips, reporting what she thought to be a hercules beetle, found climbing a tree outside of her Portsmouth, Ohio office. Claudia offered to send along a few pics, and that she did.

Photo: Claudia Phillips

The King of the Beetles, at least in these parts. Ms. Phillips had indeed found an eastern hercules beetle, Dynastes tityus. Lucky her; I've yet to see one of these. We can also thank Claudia for having the foresight to stick a ruler in the photo so that we can get the scale of this carapaced monster. This one is a  male - they get a bit bigger than females - and it stretches the tape to two inches or more. I suppose your average Joe, upon finding such a creature, would EEK in horror and bash it with a club. I'm glad that beetle-friendly Claudia found the beetle, and decided to share it with us.

Photo: John Howard

Knowing little of these gargantuans, I emailed my friend John Howard, who lives in Adams County, which is adjacent to Scioto County where Claudia found her hercules beetle. Sure enough, John knew the bug and typically runs across two or three a year. He was good enough to send along a few of his stellar photos. This one is a male.

Photo: John Howard

Eastern hercules beetles are inextricably entertwined with dead wood. The females lay their eggs into rotting wood, and after a few months it hatches, releasing a grub which will grow to finger size. The grub wends its way through the rotting log, devouring pulp and eventually reaching elephantine proportions. If a Pileated Woodpecker gets wise to the grub and excavates it, the bird'll have the protein-rich equivalent of a footlong hotdog. Failing predation, the grub will form a hardened coccoon of wood bits cemented together with its saliva, and pupate for several months. Finally, come spring, the magnificent beetle that we see in these photos emerges, to the delight or horror of all those who see one.

Never underestimate the value of dead trees! To say that dead and dying trees, and logs littering the forest, are overaged or otherwise wasted is the height of ecological ignorance. An incredible web of life is spun in decaying timber; this spectacular beetle is but one of the more grandiose of the punkwood chewers.

Photo: John Howard

Stag hercules beetles certainly look fierce, with those jumbo horns. They're really not; the adult beetles feed primarily on sap that oozes from trees. But when it comes rutting time, watch out! Rival males square off and joust with one another using those horns. I'm sure that a battle between two of these titans is a sight to see.

Thanks to Claudia Phillips for sharing her wonderful find, and John Howard for providing his outstanding photos.