rhinoceros beetle

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various large scarab beetles of the subfamily Dynastinae chiefly of tropical regions, the males of which have horns on the head and thorax.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A beetle of the genus Dynastes, having in the male sex a large up-curved horn on the head, resembling somewhat the horn of the rhinoceros, as well as a more or less developed prothoracic horn. The common rhinoceros-beetle of the United States, Dynastes tityus, the largest of the North American beetles, has two large horns directed forward, one arising from the thorax and one from the head, in the male beetle only. The general color is greenish-gray with black markings. and between this form and a uniform brown there are many gradations. The larva feeds in decaying stumps and logs. Both beetle and larva have a peculiarly disagreeable odor, which, when they are present in any number, becomes insupportable. D. hercules of South America is another rhinoceros-beetle, specifically called the Hercules-beetle, whose prothoracic horn is immensely long. See also cut under Hercules-beetle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun any of various tropical beetles, mostly of the genus Dynastes, having horns on the head and thorax; a pest on coconuts

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun any of various large chiefly tropical beetles having horns on the head; pest on coconuts