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Natural SurroundingsOnly in ArizonaValley of the Sun
Home›Natural Surroundings›Rhino Beetles Found Only in Arizona

Rhino Beetles Found Only in Arizona

By Andrea Aker
April 19, 2011
10807
16

Excerpt from Valley 101: A Slightly Skewed Guide to Living in Arizona, a collection of Clay Thompson’s columns for The Arizona Republic. (Originally published July 28, 2002.)

Q: I have lived here all of my 32 years, and ever since I can remember, every summer at night, I see the biggest, ugliest and fiercest-looking brown beetle. The other night I saw one of these things and sprayed it with bug killer, which only seemed to disorient it. It took undiluted tick poison to kill it. What are these things?

A: You know, if I were rich, I would just buy you people bug books and let you figure these things out by yourselves. I usually just throw away the bug questions because they are usually pretty vague. Along the lines of “I saw a black bug. What was it?”

However, in this case, I’m just about 100 percent sure that this guy saw—and needlessly slaughtered—a rhinoceros beetle, Dynastes granti.

They are the largest North American beetles and are believed to be found only in Arizona.

Dynastes Granti, Rhino BeetleLike my masters, these things are pretty creepy, especially when they’re flying. And they hiss by rubbing their abdomen and wing covers together. The beetles, not my masters. My masters hiss the same way other people do.

Unlike my masters, rhinoceros beetles are not at all dangerous. Some people keep them as pets, although they are as ugly as the day is long. They’re usually brown, about 3.5 inches long, and the males have a big pair of horns protruding from their heads. They use them to fight with other males over babes.

The females lay eggs in decaying vegetable matter or stuff like that. When the larva is grown, it makes itself a little hole in the ground and lines it with feces, which dry and form a waterproof coating. The adults dig their way to the surface in a few weeks.

As noted, they are harmless, so there is no need to go dousing them with tick poison or whatever. You people.

They eat tree sap, although I’m told that people who keep them as pets give them peeled fruit and watered-down maple syrup.

The downside to the pet thing is that they only live about a year as adults. However, just like my masters, they breed easily in captivity.

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16 comments

  1. Jeff 23 April, 2011 at 09:43 Reply

    We found one of these — exactly like the pic (but with prettier spots!) in our back yard in Northeast Texas. Near Bonham, TX.

  2. Daniel Medina 15 April, 2012 at 06:46 Reply

    I can tell you firsthand that these beetles are absolutely harmless. However, it will totally freak you out when one lands on you!! They are all over the Tucson metro area..

  3. Marc Severson 28 September, 2012 at 15:50 Reply

    I have dozens of the exoskeletons of these that my school kids collected from our playground from when I taught second grade because insects was one of our main subjects in science. We fed them fruit (they love cantaloupe and strawberries) and carried them around on our shirts and watched them for months. They are harmless (though they may pee on you) and extremely strong. In fact our research showed them to be the strongest animal for their size in the world. If a rhinoceros beetle was as big as a person it could pick up an Abrams tank! The reason we had so many was that they replaced the sand under our playground equipment with wood chips and the larva stage of the beetle feeds on forest debris — wood chips. The larva by the way are twice the size of the beetles just before they pupate and have nasty pincers for breaking up the wood.

  4. Jayson 1 July, 2013 at 01:21 Reply

    I am really interested on this beetle is it found all over Arizona or just various areas?

    • Marc Severson 1 July, 2013 at 15:49 Reply

      I am in Tucson and I did not see any this year in our playground area where they have been for several years. According to research they are not native to the desert but more an arboreal species, living where there is forest debris for the larva to eat. I think they were just here because of the wood chips they brought in from somewhere else.

  5. Skip 14 September, 2015 at 13:07 Reply

    Loads of them here in Payson AZ

    • Karlianne Whittington 22 September, 2016 at 13:23 Reply

      I miss Payson! I grew up in Pine/Strawberry. And the beetles there were huge!

    • Michael 21 October, 2018 at 16:36 Reply

      I’m thinking about going on a bug safari in AZ. Do you know when is the best time of year to find them?

      • Jim 16 September, 2019 at 16:06 Reply

        Did you ever find out. I want to go on too

      • Linda 20 September, 2019 at 18:24 Reply

        I just saw this website while looking up to see what kind of beetle we found a few days ago in Payson. So, in answer to your question, I think now is a good time to find them .lol

  6. Billy 15 March, 2016 at 22:38 Reply

    I was wondering how common they are and if they are located in Prescott???

    • Johnnie Pease 12 August, 2018 at 21:41 Reply

      I just found one outside my house and I live in the Prescott area. I tripped out on it. Never seen one. Very interesting. They’re very strong too. I picked it up to check it out.

  7. Jane Bell 29 August, 2016 at 09:16 Reply

    What is the difference in Palo Verde beetle and rhinoceros?

  8. Chris T 28 August, 2018 at 16:27 Reply

    I have one of these guys! I think it’s cute, not ugly! Mine has fur on his abdomen that sticks out from under his wings like a little skirt. These are really cool insects! They like beetle jelly, bananas and digging in soil. Also, they fly which can look/sound kind of freaky, and they’re really strong!

  9. Karin 21 March, 2019 at 18:17 Reply

    My son got a young grub at an insect show about a year ago…it’s growing quite large. The adults were collected from the Payson area in October of 2017 and we’re waiting for it to pupate but we’re not sure it’s male or female. It’s about the size of a grown mans index finger.

  10. Jay 14 August, 2020 at 22:51 Reply

    I saw one today near kingman!

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