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Forked Fungus Beetle

uncommon

Forked Fungus Beetle

Bolitotherus cornutus

Habitat
Bracket fungi on decaying hardwood logs in eastern North American forests
Body length
10 mm
Order
Coleoptera · Tenebrionidae

Weird but real

Males use their forked thoracic horns to wrestle rivals on the bracket fungi where they feed and court.

Why it's cool

A soot-black miniature stag that turns a shelf fungus into both dining room and wrestling arena.

Photographs

A small Bolitotherus cornutus male exhibiting the use of the grip strength in the wild. The small male is courting the female while the large male attempts to use his clypeal horns to dislodge the courting male. While these images illustrate an attack from the front of the courti
Benowitz, K. M.; Brodie, E. D.; Formica, V. A. Illustration by Ariel Kahrl, from the supplemental video. · CC BY 2.5 · source
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4007237
Ken-ichi Ueda · CC BY 4.0 · source