Guinness World Records 2018

BRIGHTEST BIOLUMINESCENCE

The fire beetle (Pyrophorus noctilucus)

of the tropical regions of the Americas

has a brightness of 45 millilamberts

• as bright as a modern single LED
  torch. There are two dots on the
  beetle’s head and one on its abdomen
  (only visible when it is flying). It uses
  its light to signal to other fire beetles.

ANIMALS

LONGEST BEETLE

SPECIES (BODY)

In terms of its body size

alone – i.e., minus horns –

the titan beetle (Titanus

giganteus) of South

America is the longest

species of beetle, with an

average head-to-abdomen

length of 150 mm (6 in).

FIRST NON-HUMAN

ANIMAL TO NAVIGATE

VIA THE MILKY WAY

The African dung beetle

Scarabaeus satyrus

orients itself by using

the glow from the Milky

Way. In 2013, scientists

discovered that these

scarabs use the light

from the Milky Way on

cloudless, moonless

nights to ensure that they

keep rolling their balls of dung

in a straight line. Other animals

use stars for orientation, but

this dung beetle species is the

first animal proven to use the

entire galaxy for this purpose.

LONGEST

BEETLE SPECIMEN

The giant sawyer beetle

(Macrodontia cervicornis)

typically measures

99–170 mm (3.89–6.69 in)

in length, although a

specimen collected in

Peru in 2007 had a total

length of 177 mm (6.96 in).

A third of this beetle’s

length in male specimens

is accounted for by its

huge serrated jaws.

LONGEST LIFE-SPAN FOR AN INSECT

The longest-lived insects are the

splendour beetles (Buprestidae). On

27 May 1983, a specimen of Buprestis

aurulenta appeared from the timber

in a home in Southend-on-Sea, Essex,

UK, after at least 47 years as a larva.

HARDIEST BEETLE

The most indestructible

beetle is a small species

known as Niptus hololeucus.

Entomologist Dr Malcolm

Burr revealed that 1,547

specimens were discovered

alive and well inside a bottle

of the protein casein that had

been stoppered for 12 years.

He also reported that another

collection of specimens had

survived 15 years inside a

tin of leaves from the poison

plant Datura stramonium.

x3

LONGEST

BEETLE SPECIES

(OVERALL)

Hercules beetles (Dynastes

hercules, aka rhinoceros

beetles) typically measure

between 44 mm and 172 mm

(1.7–6.7 in), much of which

is accounted for by a long

pair of horns. The longest

sub-species is D. h. hercules

(pictured).

100%

All adult beetles

shown at actual size

STRONGEST INSECT
Larger members of the
Scarabaeidae beetle
family – such as this five-
horned rhinoceros beetle
(Eupatorus gracilicornis)

• can support up to
  850 times their own body
  weight. The average
  human can support around
  17 times their own weight,
  so this is the equivalent of
  a man holding aloft 10 fully
  grown African elephants.