TAXONOMY

Latin Name: Strategus aloeus (Linnaeus, 1758)

English Name: Ox Beetles

Size:

Distribution: USA to Central America to central Brazil and Bolivia.

Known Hosts: hardwoods.

Etymology: The species name aloeus is derived from the Greek Mythology, the son of Poseidon and Canace, husband first of Iphimedeia and later of Eriboea, and father of Salmoneus, and the eponym of Otus and Ephilates, collectively known as the Aloadae.

Comment: Adult beetles attracted to lights. It is one of currently living five species of Genus Strategus occurring in the United States.Kim and Brou (2018) has stated this species can be collected from January to October, and its peak adult flight period in Louisiana is from late June to early July.

REARING/BREEDING

This species is considered easy to rear, and we recommend any beginners to try this species out. There are couple key factors keepers need to know. A Larva often wanders at the last moment of L3 larval stage looking out a place to construct a pupal cell. If you don't take any action, larva will try to chew out your container, and can easily escape by making holes (if your container is made out of plastic), or keep wander off and lose weight (becoming a small beetle!). To prevent this, and rear a healthy beetle, you will have to add a layer of a clean, sanitized mud on bottom of its rearing container. Please refer to our general guideline for Dynastine Scarab Beetle Breeding (which will be updated in near future).

References: Kim, J. and V. A. Brou, Jr. 2018. The Genus Strategus Kirby (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae) in Louisiana. The Southern Lepidopterists’ News, 40, 100-105.