Part 2

Human-faced Beetles

Talking about beetles means talking about owner of the planet Earth. In fact, it is widely accepted by biologists that one in every five creatures on this planet is a beetle. Beetles entered the fossil record during the Lower Permian era, about 265 million years ago. There are more species of beetles than any other insect groups. Their order, Coleoptera (meaning "sheathed wing"), has more described species in it than in any other order in the animal kingdom. Forty percent of all described insect species are beetles (about 350,000 species). In addition, new species are regularly discovered. Estimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at between 5 and 8 million. Therefore, it is natural for people to see more beetles with human faces. In this section, skull-faced beetles and masked-faced beetles are also featured. 

Human-faced Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) in Peru

Human-faced Senchi-kogane (Japanese scarab beetle)

 (left) human-faced Longhorn Beetle (Taiwan Beniboshi Kamikiri) in Japan

(right) Human-faced longhorned beetle in America

Varieties of Human-faced Jewel Beetles in Australia

 (left) Skull-faced Jewel Beetles (Chrysochroa bouqueti) in Thailand

(right) Human-faced Yellowspotted Jewel Beetle in Slovakia

Skull-faced Ladybugs in Spain.  (right) Postal stamp in America in 1987

Human faced jewel beetle in India

Human-faced stag beetle in Cameroon

Human-faced stag beetles in Italy

 (left) Angry human-faced stag beetle in Iraq     (right) Baby-faced stag beetle in Hungary.

One of many human-faced stag beetle display cases at Takeshi Yamada’s Museum of World Wonders.

Kuwagata-mushi (stag beetles) among collectors in Japan are called “Black Diamonds” for their shinny

black body and fancy prices. In Japan, large beetles resembles the armors of samurai warriors (samurai

warriors’ military government ruled Japan during 1333 and 1868) are also considered as good luck charms.

   Alaus o

culatus Eyed Click BeetleAlaus oculatus Eyed Click Beetle

Human-faced Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus oculatus) and its postal stamp issued in Belize, 1995

(Continue to Part 3)

Disclaimer: This literature was written in the style and format of 16th century scholastic zoological books. One such distinguished book is On Monsters and Marvels by Ambrose Paré. Paré was chief surgeon to both Charles IX and Henri III, and is considered the best physician and true Renaissance man in the 16th century. This literature was also produced in the time honored traditional, inspirational and entertaining manner of the American circus sideshow and Dime Museum. For these reasons, despite the best efforts of the author, some of the visual and textual information contained in this article many be fictional, and in such cases, any resemblance to real life subject matter is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved by Takeshi Yamada, September 2006. Revised May 2007.

Museum of World Wonders in Coney Island.  E-mail: yamada108@aol.com

Special thanks to Eriko N. Bond, Lauren D. Travis, Maremi Kakushina, Abraham Morris, and Deborah Zingale.

Takeshi Yamada © 2007 Copyright all rights reserved

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