Males commonly about 40–65 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Golofa claviger
An Andean rhinoceros beetle whose spectacular horns can turn it from forest icon into an oil-palm pest.
About this species
Golofa claviger(Linnaeus, 1771)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Golofa claviger is a large Andean rhinoceros beetle. Males bear long opposing horns, while adults can cut and feed on young palm tissue; in cultivated landscapes the same behaviour can damage oil palms.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Scarabaeidae · Golofa
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
the Andes of Peru and EcuadorBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
the Andes of Peru and Ecuador
Andean forest and agricultural mosaics containing palms.
Adults are mainly nocturnal and may be attracted to lights.
Adults feed on palm tissue and sap; larvae develop in decaying plant material and soil.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
The male’s long head and thoracic horns close against each other like a giant pair of pincers during contests.
Adults have been recorded slicing into the youngest oil-palm fronds, turning an extraordinary beetle into a locally important crop pest.
The larva and adult female were only formally described in detail in 2021, more than two centuries after Linnaeus named the species.