Size - They grow up to 110mm long, males have Y-shaped horns and females do not have horns.
Distribution -Found in the rainforests of
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan.
Diet-Beetle larvae, or grubs, are omnivorous and likely scavenge on meat as well as debris of plants.
The adult beetles feed only on the sap of a few tree species in mature rainforest areas.
Goliathus cacicus –Smaller compared to Goliathus regius beetle species, it’s up to 95mm long (normally 60-84mm) and lives only in mature rainforests.
Goliathus regius -It can grow up to 105mm long (normally 75-95mm) and prefers to live in drier forests.
Occasionally, they both live in the same patch of forest and even on a same tree and mate, giving birth to natural hybrids.
Significance to ecosystem -They have an important role in moving nutrients throughout the forest ecosystem to nourish other plants and animals.
Goliath beetle is an excellent indicator of forest health, if they are abundant in a forest, it means the forest is in a good enough condition to support other species.
But when their populations decline, this is an early warning indicator of emptying forests and eroding ecosystems.
Threats -Goliathus regius Klug and Goliathus cacicus Olivier, are threatened with extinction.
Goliathus cacicus has had a catastrophic decline over the past 30 years.
Goliathus cacicus seemed to have gone extinct in several areas of west Africa, like the Banco Forest National Park in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Forests in Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya offer valuable shelter to Goliathus goliatus.
Gabon, the northern Republic of Congo and northern Democratic Republic of Congo have vast and largely pristine, inaccessible forests where Goliathus goliatus beetles are not under threat.
Goliath beetles are not currently evaluated on the IUCN Red List.
The beetles has been almost wiped out by the West African cocoa industry and, to a lesser extent, by the international trade in dried insects.
