Large males can approach 70 mm in total length.
Fine-art photographic collection
Fornasinius fornasini
A heavyweight African flower chafer whose larva must obtain far more protein than an ordinary wood-eating grub.
About this species
Fornasinius fornasiniBertoloni, 1852
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Fornasinius fornasini is a large goliathine scarab of eastern and southern Africa. Males carry a forked head process used in contests, while the bulky larvae develop in organic material before sealing themselves inside an earthen pupal cell.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Scarabaeidae · Cetoniinae · Fornasinius
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Eastern and southern AfricaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Eastern and southern Africa
Warm woodland and forest margins with sap flows, ripe fruit and deep organic soil.
Adults climb and fly in warm weather; larvae remain concealed in substrate.
Adults take sugary sap and fruit; larvae require unusually protein-rich food as well as decomposing organic matter.
Solitary, with males competing at feeding and mating sites.
What makes this species remarkable?
The male’s forked cephalic horn is a lifting weapon: rivals are hooked, levered upward and forced away from access to food or females.
Goliathine larvae are exceptional among flower chafers because rapid growth to enormous size demands protein-rich food; captive larvae will actively consume other invertebrate material.
At maturity the larva engineers a rigid cell from soil and its own secretions, then rebuilds almost its entire body inside it during metamorphosis.