About 20 mm in documented males.
Fine-art photographic collection
Hypatium splendidum
An East African longhorn combining a jewel-like surface with antennae that turn its entire body into a sensory instrument.
About this species
Hypatium splendidumGahan, 1890
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Hypatium splendidum is an East African longhorn beetle described by Charles Gahan in 1890. A precisely documented Tanzanian male combines a jewel-like gold-green and copper surface with antennae extending far beyond its compact body.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Cerambycidae · Hypatium
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
East Africa, including TanzaniaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
East Africa, including Tanzania
Savannah woodland and dry forest with dead or stressed woody plants.
Adults occur on trunks, branches and at lights.
Larvae bore in woody tissue; adults feed little or on plant fluids.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
A photographed male measured about 20 millimetres and was recorded from Mayoni-Nkonko in Tanzania at approximately 6°24′54″S, 34°59′45″E — an unusually precise modern anchor for a species named in 1890.
Gahan’s original diagnosis describes the beetle as gold-green, copper-shining and exceptionally glossy, then separates it using the exact density of punctures on the forehead and pronotum.
The male antennae extend well beyond the body and enlarge its sensory sweep across air and bark, making a 20-millimetre beetle functionally much wider than the armoured animal visible in the photograph.
Sources and scientific references
- GBIF — taxon record/search for Hypatium splendidum
- Catalogue of Life — taxon search for Hypatium splendidum
- Gahan 1890 — original description of Hypatium splendidum
- Wikimedia specimen record — 20 mm Tanzanian male
- Flickr source specimen with Mayoni-Nkonko locality and coordinates
- Käfer der Welt species record