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Scientific name
Cheirotonus macleayi formosanus Ohaus, 1913 |
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Chinese name 台灣長臂金龜
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English name
Formosan Long-armed Scarab |
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Classification 金龜子科(Scarabaeidae)，長臂金龜亞科(Euchirinae)
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Diagnosis
Large-sized scarab beetle. Body length 7-11 cm, foreleg
length 6-8 cm in male and 5-5.5 cm in female. Whole body
black in ground colour with thorax metallic red dorsally
and elytra punctate; latero-posterior margins of thorax
hairy; dorsum of thorax densely punctuated; elytra smooth
on surface and having several longitudinal rows of yellow
spots. |
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Distribution
Endemic to Taiwan and scattered in primary forests at
about 500-2000 m. |
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Habitat and Ecology
The habitat and detailed biology of this species is in
need of further investigation though Yu & Chu (1993)
reported observations of captive rearing of the larvae.
According to their results, the females started to lay
eggs in the middle of July, and the whole duration of
larval stage lasted to one year long. The larvae built
pupal case in the next autumn and hibernated in pupal
stage for seven months until becoming adult. The tree
species of the rotten wood utilized by this species are
still undentified. |
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Threats and Conservation Status
The whole genus in Taiwan, China and the S.E. Asia has
faced the same problems from illegal over-collecting and
destruction of forest resource. The population of this
subspecies in Taiwan has been declined in the recent 2
decades, while some collectors and breeders have argued
that commercial collecting would not be so fatal as habitat
alternation. The whole genus in the mainland China is
also protected by the Forest Law. |
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Remarks
This species had ever been allocated to a subspecies of
Cheilotonus jansoni, but most authors think it is better
associated with Cheirotonus macleayi or to be an independent
species (e.g. Mizunuma, 1999; Young, 1989). |
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