TAXONOMY

Latin Name: Strategus antaeus (Drury, 1773)

English Name: Smooth Ox Beetles

Size:

Distribution: USA (southeastern states, endemic to the US)

Known Hosts: hardwoods.

Etymology: The species name antaues is derived from the Greek Mythology, the son of Poseidon and Gaia.

Comment: Adult beetles attracted to lights. It is one of five current living species of Genus Strategus occurring in the United States. Kim and Brou (2018) stated this species can be collected from May to September in Louisiana, and its peak adult flight period is from the last week of May to the first week of June. The morphology of this species may be similar to those three-horned species occurring in East-Asia, belonging to Genus Chalcosoma, however, S. antaeus has three thoracic horns with no head horn.

REARING/BREEDING

Not many information is known on biology of this species. With our thorough rearing and breeding of this species, we were able to develop our own guideline for the species. Despite the fact this species often found in a forest with sand or beach areas (in Florida), you do not need sand in breeding set up or rearing set up for your larvae. This species do well with our fermented substrate. Larvae takes about an year or less to fully grow and emerge into adults. 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.