Goliath beetle
Goliathus
- Size
- Up to 11cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest in West and central Africa, high in the trees
A huge beetle with a black and white striped thorax and chestnut-brown wing cases.
The goliath beetle that follows you
This page is the floor of a rainforest in central Africa. Move your pointer and your bug will trundle, glide or flutter after you. Choose a different bug at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
The Congo rainforest right now checking the sky…
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01 · HeavyThe heaviest insect
Its grub can weigh up to 100 grams: about as much as a small apple. No insect is known to be heavier.
02 · SoundIt sounds like a drone
In flight its wings make a deep whirr, loud enough to hear from across a clearing.
03 · SapIt drinks sap
Adults feed on tree sap and ripe fruit, high in the canopy.
04 · HornA fork on its nose
The male has a Y-shaped horn on his head, and uses it to push rivals away from food.
05 · GrubA grub that eats meat
Unlike most beetle grubs, it needs a lot of protein to grow so large.
06 · WingsWings under a lid
It does not lift its wing cases to fly. The wings slide out from underneath, through a gap at the side.
Meet them all
Who's who in the rainforest
Giant African millipede
Archispirostreptus gigas
- Size
- Up to 30cm or more
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest floor and leaf litter in East Africa
A glossy black millipede as long as a ruler and as thick as a thumb, with hundreds of reddish legs.
Giant African land snail
Lissachatina fulica
- Size
- Shell up to 20cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest edges, farms and gardens in East Africa: now spread around the tropics
A very large snail with a tall, pointed shell striped in brown and cream.
Spiny flower mantis
Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii
- Size
- About 4cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Shrubs and flowers in eastern and southern Africa
A small, green and white mantis with spiny lobes on its body and a spiral eye pattern on each wing.
Mother-of-pearl butterfly
Protogoniomorpha parhassus
- Size
- Wingspan 7 to 9cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Forest and thick bush across tropical Africa
A large, pale butterfly that shimmers green, pink and violet, like the inside of a shell.
Picasso bug
Sphaerocoris annulus
- Size
- About 8mm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Shrubs and crops in tropical and southern Africa
A small, rounded, pale green bug covered in rings of orange, yellow and black, like a painted shield.
Through the year
When to look for them
It is warm and wet here all year, so most of these can be found in any month. The bug following you is shown in red.
Goliath beetle
Giant millipede
Giant land snail
Flower mantis
Mother-of-pearl
Picasso bug
Good to know
Six things about rainforest bugs
Why so big?
With no winter to stop them growing, and plenty to eat, many forest insects grow far larger than their cousins elsewhere.
The dark floor
Very little light reaches the ground. Life there runs on what falls from above: leaves, fruit and wood.
Fast recycling
A fallen leaf is eaten and gone within weeks. Millipedes, snails and beetle grubs do most of the work.
Hidden in plain sight
Many insects look like flowers, leaves, bark or bird droppings. You can stare at one and not see it.
Most life is overhead
More kinds of insect live in the treetops than on the ground, and many have never been seen up close.
Still being named
Scientists find new kinds of insect in the Congo forest on almost every expedition.
African bugs: 1 more place
Where next?
Photo gallery
Real photos of the bugs on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Goliath beetle
Giant African millipede
Giant African land snail
Spiny flower mantis
Mother-of-pearl butterfly
Picasso bug
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
A forest of giants
Warmth, rain and food all year let the forest's small animals grow very large. Africa's rainforest has the heaviest beetle, one of the longest millipedes and the biggest land snail.
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