Giant Fijian long-horned beetle

The giant Fijian long-horned beetle (Xixuthrus heros)[1] is native to the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, and is one of the largest living insect species, with specimens around 15 cm long, excluding legs, antennae, or jaws. It is closely related to the Taveuni beetle, which is only marginally smaller. These beetles have powerful jaws, and should be handled with care when alive—when threatened, they produce a loud and fearsome hissing noise by squeezing air out from under their elytra. The forest habitat on its home island has suffered severe fragmentation by deforestation and habitat degradation by invasive species such as the Small Indian Mongoose, and considering that it has not been reliably recorded in two decades, the beetle is regarded as extremely rare or even functionally extinct.

male

giant Fijian long-horned beetle
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Cerambycidae
Genus:	Xixuthrus
Species:	X. heros
Binomial name
Xixuthrus heros (Gräffe, 1868)
Synonyms
Macrotoma heros

Xixuthrus heros is distributed in the lowland rainforests of south-east Viti Levu, with Col-i-Suva Forest Park being the stronghold; natives in some nearby villages continue to consume the larvae when they split decaying wood, which is then burnt for fuel, placing additional pressures on the population. Adult beetles have been recorded in the past flying to lights in the nursing college near Suva. A scientific study in 2001/2002 determined that there are, in fact, two distinct species which had been identified as heros, one of them true heros, the other being X. ganglbaueri.[2]