Xyloryctes Hope

Morelli, Enrique & MorÓn, Miguel A., 2003, Descriptions of XYLORYCTES Hope Larvae with a Key to Species Based on the Third Stage Larvae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 57 (3), pp. 289-295 : 289-290

Larvae of Xyloryctes Hope

Xyloryctes larvae are distinguished by the following combination of characters: head without anterior or posterior frontal setae; ocelli distinct; clypeal shape subtrapezoidal; preclypeus narrower than postclypeus; labrum suboval with apex asymmetrical; plegmatia absent; corypha formed by 4–10 slender setae; zygum and epizygum fused; haptomeral process elevated, entire, not interrupted, without heli or distinct sensillae; galea and lacinia completely fused, forming mala; mala with large uncus at apex and 3 subterminal unci fused at bases and unequal in size; inner margin of mandibles, between scissorial and molar areas, not toothed; acia and calx well-developed; raster without septula or palidia; tarsal claws each bearing 2 setae.

The genus Xyloryctes contains 10 species distributed from the U.S.A. to Panamá ( Endrödi 1985; Ratcliffe 1991; Morón et al. 1997). Adults of Xyloryctes have been collected at lights, rarely under leaf litter or in the soil, near tree roots. Larvae are found

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under leaf mold or under rotten logs. Most of the species are associated with montane forests, such as pine forest, pine-oak forest, or cloud forest located from 1,500 to 2,700 m in altitude. Few species live in broad leaf deciduous forest or pine-oak forest located less than 1,500 m of altitude, and only X. lobicollis is found in tropical rain forest, cloud forest, deciduous tropical forest, or humid pine-oak forest located between 200–2,300 m elevation.