📸 PhotoPhoto: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Goliath beetle
Goliathus goliatus (Goliath beetle · Goliath beetle)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 In the Goliath beetle group (genus Goliathus), the largest males are said to exceed 11 cm—longer than the long side of a credit card (85.6 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 The maximum 3rd-instar larval length of 150 mm is about 70% of the short side of an A4 sheet of paper (210 mm) (Comparison).
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.
📖 1. Overview
The Goliath beetle is a species in the genus Goliathus, the largest group in the subfamily Cetoniinae, living in tropical Africa.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The largest male Goliath beetles exceed 11 cm. The 3rd-instar (penultimate stage) larva of this species reaches 114–150 mm in body length and 10.2–14 mm in head width.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
In captive rearing experiments, larvae required protein in their diet to grow properly. A paper suggests that a shift from purely decaying plant matter to a nearly predatory diet may explain how this group grew so huge.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 7ZNCV
- • wikidata.org — Q498985
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Goliathus goliatus vol.jpg
- • pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC5090161
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Edwin Price · CC BY 4.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Hylamorpha elegans)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.