📸 PhotoCallipogon relictus Female
Photo: Anaxibia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Relic Longhorn Beetle
Callipogon relictus (Relic Longhorn Beetle · ウスリーオオカミキリ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
🇰🇷 Ministry of Environment Class I endangered wildlife (Korea) · Natural Monument No. 218
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 📏 Length 8.5cm — ~1× the width of a credit card (8.56 cm)
- ⚖️ Mass 30g — Equivalent to ~0.5 chicken eggs (~60 g each)
- ⚡ Speed 15km/h — ~3.8× human walking speed (~4 km/h)
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
Reaching up to 11 cm in body length, it is the largest coleopteran insect on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and a precious relict species that became the first insect designated as a Natural Monument (No. 218) in Korea.
🌐 Wikipedia Summary ExtractCallipogon relictus is a species of longhorn beetle which inhabits mixed and deciduous forests and is mostly found in Korea, but also in China and the southern part of Russian Far East. With the length reaching up to 110 mm (4.3 in), Callipogon relictus is the largest beetle of Russia. Its population is decreasing due to deforestation and uncontrolled collection, and therefore the species is listed in the Russian Red Book.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It uses its powerful mandibles to score oak trunks and feed on sap, surviving as a living relic of Cenozoic warm periods closely related to tropical Central and South American longhorn beetles.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
After growing as a larva inside old trees for 5–7 years, it emerges as an adult and is active for only 1–2 months to breed.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
In South Korea, it is a national treasure whose wild habitat is confirmed only in the Korea National Arboretum (Gwangneung Forest) area in Pocheon, Gyeonggi-do.
📚 Sources & References
- • Wikipedia “Callipogon relictus”
- • Wikidata Q150648
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • Korean protection status: Ministry of Environment Class I endangered wildlife (Korea) · Natural Monument No. 218
- • nie.re.kr — view.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Melissa Broussard · CC BY 3.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Cerambycidae)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.