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Ox Beetle (Strategus antaeus)


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Does anyone here ever see any Ox Beetles (Strategus antaeus)?  This species has a wide distribution, but does it only tend to occur within certain areas of its range?  I've seen the more common S. aloeus many times over the years, but probably haven't come across any S. antaeus since the early 1980s.

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The peak adult flight period for Strategus antaeus in Louisiana occurs from the last week of May to the first week of June, and adults have been taken from May into September. However, males seem to only be found in earlier time from May to June, and females are more broadly found until later time. The lastest I collected female was sometime in July from Natchitoches Parish. Most numbers I've observed in a single night was about 4 adult pairs. Most numbers I have observed in a single year was probably over 10 males with about 7 females within two weeks. Within Louisiana, I've collected numerous numbers (not many, but quite numbers) in Natchitoches Parish alone, but we have discovered from couple different sources including LSU collections, references, other private collections that they have been recorded from Acadia, Rapides, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishies. However, we have only discovered a single specimen from each parishes other than 59 in Natchitoches upon the publication of research. Send me your email link, I will provide our research article about this species and all other Strategus spp. recorded in Louisiana. I'm unable to attach it here due to max total size of 0.49 MB. :(

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@GoliathusI got more than a dozen of them (only 4 males) in Ocala National Forest just 3 days ago! They swarmed my light, to the point I didn’t collect some females. And I was light trapping on a clear night. They are common in scrublands

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@JKim what is the best place to get S. Aloeus? Ironically I haven’t gotten a single one yet and will be in LA soon. I have had 7 tityus (one male) and 3 elaphus (1 male) over in NC and FL, yet haven’t seen any larger beetles.

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  • 1 year later...
On 7/15/2020 at 2:35 PM, Goliathus said:

Does anyone here ever see any Ox Beetles (Strategus antaeus)?  This species has a wide distribution, but does it only tend to occur within certain areas of its range?  I've seen the more common S. aloeus many times over the years, but probably haven't come across any S. antaeus since the early 1980s.

I just found one on my patio. He is beautiful!  A major for sure!

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