Oxynopterus mucronatus
{{Short description|Species of beetle}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Taxobox
|image=Oxynopterus mucronatus (Mindanao, Philippines) 08.jpg
|image_caption = Male O. mucronatus from Mindanao, Philippines
| name = Giant click beetle
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Arthropoda
| classis = Insecta
| ordo = Coleoptera
| familia = Elateridae
| tribus = Oxynopterini
| genus = Oxynopterus
| species = O. mucronatus
| binomial = Oxynopterus mucronatus
| binomial_authority = (Olivier, 1792)
|synonyms=
- Elater mucronatus Olivier, 1792
|synonyms_ref=
}}
Oxynopterus mucronatus, sometimes known as the giant click beetle, is a species of click beetle from tropical Southeast Asia. Their larvae are specialized predators of termites.
Taxonomy
Oxynopterus mucronatus was originally described by the French entomologist Guillaume-Antoine Olivier in 1792 as Elater mucronatus. The type specimen was obtained from the collection of William V, Prince of Orange.{{cite book |last1=Lamarck |first1=Jean-Baptiste |last2=Bruguière |first2=Jean Guillaume |last3=Olivier |first3=Guillaume-Antoine |last4=Haüy |first4=René Just |last5=Pelletier |first5=Bertrand |title=Journal d'Histoire Naturelle |date=1792 |page=262|publisher=Imprimerie du Cercle-Social |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/6588#/summary}}{{cite book|editor1-first =W.|editor1-last=Jardine|editor2-first=P.J.|editor2-last=Selby|editor3-first=George|editor3-last=Johnston|editor4-first=Charles C.|editor4-last=Babington|editor5-first=J.H.|editor5-last=Balfour|editor6-first=Richard|editor6-last=Taylor|title =The Annals and Magazine of Natural History including Zoology, Botany, and Geology|chapter =Proceedings of the Royal Society; Royal Society of Edinburgh; Zoological Society; Botanical Society of London; Botanical Society of Edinburgh|publisher =R. and J.E. Taylor|year =1843|volume=11|pages=378–403|chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=KeoyAQAAMAAJ&q=Oxynopterus+mucronatus&pg=PA398}} It became the type species of the genus Oxynopterus, established by the English naturalist Frederick William Hope in 1842. O. mucronatus is classified under the tribe Oxynopterini, in the click beetle family Elateridae.{{cite book|editor1-first=Ivan |editor1-last=Löbl|editor2-first=Ales|editor2-last= Smetana|title =Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Volume 4: Elateroidea - Deodontoidea - Bostrichoidea - Lymexyloidea - Cleroidea - Cucujoidea|chapter =|publisher =Apollo Books|series =|year =2007|page=94|isbn =9789004260894|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qN8zDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94}}
The generic name Oxynopterus means "sharp-wing" in ancient Greek; while the specific name mucronatus is Latin for "pointed". Both refer to the sharp, pointed tips of the elytra.{{cite book|first1=John George|last1=Wood|title =Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations|publisher =Longmans, Green, and Co.|series =|year =1883|page=158|url =https://archive.org/stream/insectsabroadbe00wood/insectsabroadbe00wood#page/158/mode/1up}}
Description
O. mucronatus, like other members of the genus Oxynopterus, are among the largest of the click beetles.{{cite journal |last1=Suzuki |first1=Wataru |title=Notes on three species of the genus Oxynopterus (Coleoptera, Elateridae) from Southeast Asia, with description of a new species |journal=Elytra, Tokyo |date=2001 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=326–334 |url=http://coleoptera.sakura.ne.jp/Elytra/29(2)326SuzukiW.pdf}}{{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Patrice |title=The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature's Gems |date=2014 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226082899 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCauBgAAQBAJ}} The males have distinctive feather-like antennae, with long flat lamellae extending from the antenna segments. The females in contrast, have thin toothed antennae and are larger than the males. The prothorax is shield-shaped, with sharply pointed posteriolateral tips. The elytra are long and smooth, tapering to a sharp point. The claws are simple, without bristles (setae), pads, or lobes on the tarsal segments. They are predominantly reddish-brown in life.
Ecology
The larvae of O. mucronatus are specialized predators of termites of the genus Neotermes.{{cite journal |last1=Kalshoven |first1=L.G.E. |title=Additional note on the giant Elaterid, Oxynopterus mucronatus Ol., a predator on termites in Java |journal=Entomologische Berichten |date=1955 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=273–278}}{{cite journal |last1=Stibick |first1=Jeffrey N.L. |title=Classification of the Elateridae (Coleoptera): Relationships and classification of the subfamilies and tribes |journal=Pacific Insects |date=1979 |volume=20 |issue=2–3 |pages=145–186 |url=http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/20%282%29-145.pdf}}{{cite book|first1=Cleide|last1=Costa|first2=John F.|last2=Lawrence|first3=Simone Policena|last3=Rosa|editor1-first=Richard A.B.|editor1-last=Leschen|editor2-first=Rolf G.|editor2-last=Beutel|editor3-first=John F.|editor3-last=Lawrence|title =Coleoptera, Beetles. Volume 2: Morphology and Systematics (Elateroidea, Bostrichiformia, Cucujiformia partim)|chapter =Elateridea leach, 1815|publisher =Walter de Gruyter|series =Handbook of Zoology|year =2011|page=77|isbn =9783110911213|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2k7WfeX2v4C}}
Uses
Dried O. mucronatus is regarded as a traditional aphrodisiac in Javanese culture.{{cite journal |last1=Meyer-Rochow |first1=V. Benno |title=Therapeutic arthropods and other, largely terrestrial, folk-medicinally important invertebrates: a comparative survey and review |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |date=7 February 2017 |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=9 |doi=10.1186/s13002-017-0136-0 |pmid=28173820|pmc=5296966 |doi-access=free }} They are also popular among insect collectors due to their large sizes.
See also
{{Commons category|Oxynopterus mucronatus|Oxynopterus mucronatus}}