Longest beetle (species)

In terms of total length (i.e., not merely the body), the hercules beetle is the longest beetle, with an average length of 44–172 mm (1.7–6.7 in) across its 13 subspecies. Of all these subspecies, the longest is the Dynastes hercules hercules (the largest of the "rhinoceros" beetles, of South America) from the islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica, with one 172-mm (6.77-in) example having been measured in a Japanese collection. This length is partly a result of the beetle's long pair of horns – one extending from the head, the other from the thorax.

An example of another large subspecies, the Dynastes hercules lichyi, was measured at 171 mm (6.73 in).

There have been claims of hercules beetles reaching as much as 180 mm (7.08 in), but these remain unsubstantiated.

The longest species of beetle in terms of body size alone is the titan beetle Titanus giganteus of South America, with an average body length of 15 cm (6 in).