Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle vs Splendid Earth-boring Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle Splendid Earth-boring Beetle
Scientific Name Passalus unicornis Bolbocerosoma farctum
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Passalidae Geotrupidae
Size 30-45 mm 8-14mm
Habitat Woodlands Deserts & Drylands
Diet Wood Feeders Fungus Feeders
Regions Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, DRC, Congo) North America
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.

Splendid Earth-boring Beetle

A stout rotund beetle with a polished amber-brown body. It digs deep burrows in sandy soil and is attracted to lights at night.

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Did You Know?

It helps propagate underground fungi by carrying fungal spores between burrows acting as a subterranean gardener.