This lifeform is found north of the Equator in the New World tropics.

Elephant beetle, Megasoma elephus, is aptly named because of its huge size. Their girth is phenomenal. Although ten centimeters is considered a large size, examples over thirteen centimeters are known.as well as some over fourteen centimeters. Megasoma elephus is found from Mexico south to Venezuela and southern Colombia. Although seemingly rather rare on the mainland of South America, examples have been seen from southern Colombia with a small central thorax horn similar to Megasoma gyas.

Horned Beetles, sub-family Dynastinnae, are worldwide in distribution with most species being found in the warmer areas.
Many of the species have giant horns and antlers giving them a very spectacular appearance.

Beetles (Order Coleoptera) are a diverse group of insects found throughout the world. They usually can fly and typically have four wings. Two of the wings are hardened (elytra) and serve as a body cover to protect the flying wings and abdomen. Beetles begin their life as a larvae or grub that goes through a metamorphosis that turns this worm-like creature into an adult with six legs and four wings. There probably are over 500,000 species of beetles in the world. However, that number is only conjecture as the United States does not have a complete list of its known species.

The United States has relatively few exotic beetles. However, countries like Brazil, Mexico, Ghana, Zaire, Malaysia, and Peru have many beautiful beetles.  

Exotic beetles are such a fascination in Europe and Japan that they are collected much as coins are collected throughout the rest of  the world.

Insects (Class Insecta) are the most successful animals on Earth if success is measured by the number of species or the total number of living organisms. This class contains more than a million species, of which North America has approximately 100,000.

Insects have an exoskeleton. The body is divided into three parts. The foremost part, the head, usually bears two antennae. The middle part, the thorax, has six legs and usually four wings. The last part, the abdomen, is used for breathing and reproduction.

Although different taxonomists divide the insects differently, about thirty-five different orders are included in most of the systems.

The following abbreviated list identifies some common orders of the many different orders of insects discussed herein:

   Odonata:      Dragon and Damsel Flies
   Orthoptera:   Grasshoppers and Mantids
   Homoptera:    Cicadas and Misc. Hoppers
   Diptera:      Flies and Mosquitoes
   Hymenoptera:  Ants, Wasps, and Bees
   Lepidoptera:  Butterflies and Moths
   Coleoptera:   Beetles

Jointed Legged Animals (Phylum Arthropoda) make up the largest phylum. There are probably more than one million different species of arthropods known to science. It is also the most successful animal phylum in terms of the total number of living organisms.

Butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, various insects, spiders, and crabs are well-known arthropods.

The phylum is usually broken into the following five main classes:

   Arachnida:      Spiders and Scorpions
   Crustacea:      Crabs and Crayfish
   Chilopoda:      Centipedes
   Diplopoda:      Millipedes
   Insecta:        Insects

There are several other "rare" classes in the arthropods that should be mentioned. A more formal list is as follows:

   Sub Phylum Chelicerata

     C. Arachnida:      Spiders and scorpions
     C. Pycnogonida:    Sea spiders (500 species)
     C. Merostomata:    Mostly fossil species

   Sub Phylum Mandibulata

     C. Crustacea:      Crabs and crayfish
      
   Myriapod Group

     C. Chilopoda:      Centipedes
     C. Diplopoda:      Millipedes
     C. Pauropoda:      Tiny millipede-like
     C. Symphyla:       Garden centipedes

   Insect Group

     C. Insecta:        Insects

The above list does not include some extinct classes of Arthropods such as the Trilobites.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.