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rare
Trilobite Beetle
Platerodrilus ruficollis
- Habitat
- Damp tropical rainforest floors of India and Southeast Asia
- Body length
- 60 mm
- Order
- Coleoptera · Lycidae
Weird but real
Only females look like trilobites — they stay larva-shaped for life. The matching males are tiny winged beetles a tenth their size.
Why it's cool
A 4-cm armored tank crawling Borneo's forest floor that fooled scientists for 150 years, who couldn't tell which beetle it grew into.
