TAXONOMY

Latin Name: Dynastes tityus (Linnaeus, 1763)

English Name: Eastern Hercules Beetle

Size: 20-60mm (0.8" - 2.5")

Distribution: USA (eastern Texas to Florida, north to New York)

Known Hosts: velvet ash (Fraxinus velutina)

Etymology: The species name tityus is derived from the giant Tityos in Greek Mythology. Because the Genus name Dynastes is feminine, the spelling of species name has corrected to [-us] ending.

Comment: Adult beetles attracted to lights. Although D. tityus is known to occur in a wide range of U.S. states, and there are number of field studies observing large numbers on a single tree in many decades ago, no one has "recently" observed that many large numbers of adults at once in recent. There is a scientific research that D. tityus can be at a high risk of endangerment due to Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) which also occurs on velvet ash. Most recent study on D. tityus is probably the Kim and Brou (2019) for a species account in Louisiana that you can access from Link1 has included images of many different phenotypic variations of patterns on their elytra of specimens only from state Louisiana.

REARING/BREEDING

It is considered easy species overall to rear and breed. D. tityus, however, does take longer time period in larval stage for its size compared to many larger species like D. hercules. It takes about 4-5 weeks for eggs to hatch, and larvae may spend about 1 to 3 years depending on temperature, humidity, nutrition level of substrate, etc. Using large substrate particles to house females for breeding (adding clean potting soil) is recommended. Larvae feed on well-fermented substrate of white oak, hardwood, etc.