Goliath Beetle (Goliathus goliatus)
Pricing: Dead (spread, as pictured): $60-$200 (males), or $40-$80 (females), depending on size
Geographic Range: Western Central Africa
View: Top View Sex: Male
Size: Length: 5-11cm
Goliathus goliatus was the first Goliathus species to be described and therefore be considered "The" Goliath Beetle. It has a wide distribution, ranging from western to eastern equatorial Africa and has been recorded from Cameroon, Central Africa, Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. Males are much larger than the females and the females are patterned much differently and less striking than the males. Although the elytra of the males are generally a brown or rust-red coloration, they exhibit much variation in their markings and several subspecies have been described: G. g. goliatus, G. g. apicalis, G. g. conspersus, G. g. undulus, G. g. albatus and G. g. quadrimaculatus. Adults feed on over-ripe fruit, sweet tree saps, nectar and pollen (the adults have been observed feeding upon the nectar and pollen of Vernonia conferta). Female Goliathus goliatus lay their eggs in the rich, moist, well-rotted wood of dead trees in the families Mimosaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Combretaceae.