Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle, life cycle (Bandai Spirits & F-toys)

In just under two years ago, on August 21, 2019, I posted the first review here on the Animal Toy Blog. Now, I have the pleasure of posting review #500! Wow, 500 reviews just under two years! Many thanks to all the reviewers who have made this possible!

Allomyrina dichotoma is known as the Japanese rhinoceros beetle in English and kabutomushi in Japanese. It is distributed throughout much of Southeast Asia, including China, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan. It occurs primarily in broadleaf forests in tropical and subtropical mountainous habitats. Like many dynastines (rhinoceros beetles), it is known for its marked sexual dimorphism. Major males have a short, bifurcated pronotal horn and a long, forked cephalic horn. Its popularity in Japanese culture has probably made it the most commonly produced insect species in toy form. I have roughly 50 figures of this species, and a few years ago I stopped collecting annual figures by F-toys and Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. that reuse old sculpts! Today we will be looking at the life cycle of A. dichotoma by using figures from two sets by Bandai Spirits and two sets by F-toys, similar to what I did for the ecdysis process of the large brown cicada. All figures in this review are within the 1:1 scale range.

The entire life cycle takes about 12 months. Eggs laid in late summer hatch in about two weeks and larvae feed on humus and similar decaying organic material. The larval period lasts about eight months and consists of three instars. First up here is the freshly-molted third-instar larva. It will spend about seven months as a third instar. (Bandai Spirits, Insects in the World Desktop Model, 2021)

Next we are looking at a mature third-instar larva, getting ready to pupate. There will be a brief prepupal stage (about 5-6 days) before formation of the pupa. (Bandai Spirits, Life with Insect Desktop Model, 2020)

Our young beetle is now a pupa, in the process of transforming into an adult. The pupal stage lasts about two weeks. We can see from the presence of cephalic and pronotal horns, that our beetle is going to become a male. (Bandai Spirits, Insects in the World Desktop Model, 2021)

Our young male has emerged and his exoskeleton had hardened. Adults only live for about 1.5-2 months, so he must be quick to mate if he is to have his genetic line continue! (F-toys, Insect Hunter Beetle and Stag Beetle, 2014)

Through detection of her pheromones, the male finds a potential mate. (F-toys, Encyclopedia of Insects Vol. 1, 2007)

But wait! Another male has also homed in on her pheromones! (F-toys, Insect Hunter Beetle and Stag Beetle, 2014)

Our young stud must battle this contender, if he is to be successful in mating with the female!

Alas, he is victorious! He tosses his opponent aside by the use of his cephalic and pronotal horns. The other male skulks away, hoping to find a potential mate elsewhere…

Now undisturbed, the beetle couple will copulate. The adults will die shortly after mating and oviposition. But their success ensures their genetic line will live on…

So there we have the life cycle of Allomyrina dichotoma, thanks to high-quality figures by Bandai Spirits and F-toys. As mentioned earlier, this is probably the most common insect species made; finding figures is not hard. Retired and higher quality figures might be more expensive, but these are the only examples I am aware of of immature stages (and only one of two females I have). However, males are easy to come by. In my collection, I have figures by Access Toys, Bandai, Bandai Spirits, Coca Cola, CollectA, Colorata, DeAgostini, Epoch, F-toys, Hayakawa Toys, Kabaya, Kaiyodo, K&M International, Kitan Club, Maruka, Re-ment, Sega, Subarudo, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S., Yell, and Yujin. The best are probably by F-toys, Yujin, and Kitan Club.