Male Horned Beetle
Horned Beetle or Rhipicera femorata
Rhipicera male beetle has a multi-segmented antennae that is a perfume sensing device to help locate a female Rhipicera. We observed one little chap trying to hone in on a female that was resting on a twig on our garden shrub. He took about 10 minutes flying around to finally reach his partner from less than a metre away. She doesn't have a perfume sensing antennae otherwise I am sure she would have known he was nearby and then she could have waved to him or called in beetle language, "Hi! I'm over here!"
But no. She was so nonchalant sitting on that twig whilst emitting faint bursts of beetle gas. Thank God his multi-segmented perfume sensing radar was working.
Photo: Fred
Male Horned Beetle
Horned Beetle or Rhipicera femorata
Rhipicera male beetle has a multi-segmented antennae that is a perfume sensing device to help locate a female Rhipicera. We observed one little chap trying to hone in on a female that was resting on a twig on our garden shrub. He took about 10 minutes flying around to finally reach his partner from less than a metre away. She doesn't have a perfume sensing antennae otherwise I am sure she would have known he was nearby and then she could have waved to him or called in beetle language, "Hi! I'm over here!"
But no. She was so nonchalant sitting on that twig whilst emitting faint bursts of beetle gas. Thank God his multi-segmented perfume sensing radar was working.
Photo: Fred