Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle vs Queenless Ponerine Ant

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle Queenless Ponerine Ant
Scientific Name Passalus unicornis Diacamma rugosum
Order Coleoptera Hymenoptera
Family Passalidae Formicidae
Size 30-45 mm 8-12 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Omnivores
Regions Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, DRC, Congo) South Asia, Southeast Asia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle

A large, flattened bess beetle with a shiny black body and a small horn on the head. Adults and larvae live together in rotting logs in a subsocial arrangement. Adults produce sounds by rubbing their hindwings against the abdomen.

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Did You Know?

Parents feed their larvae pre-chewed wood and communicate with them using stridulatory sounds, one of the few examples of parental care in beetles.

Queenless Ponerine Ant

A large black ponerine ant found across South and Southeast Asia that lacks a morphological queen caste. Instead, a single mated worker called a gamergate monopolizes reproduction.

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Did You Know?

The gamergate maintains her dominance by mutilating the gemmae of newly emerged workers, preventing them from mating.