Species Hierarchy
Kingdom ANIMAL (ANIMALIA)
Phylum JOINTED LEGGED ANIMALS (ARTHROPODA)
Class INSECTS (INSECTA)
Order BEETLES (COLEOPTERA)
Family BEETLES - FLOWER BEETLES (SCARABAEIDAE - CETONIINAE)
SubFamily BEETLES - FLOWER HETERORRHINA, RHOMBORRHINA GROUP (GOLIATHINI - EURASIAN)
Common name:
Scentific name: RHOMBORRHINA FORMOSANA

THREE EXAMPLES
Origin: FORMOSA (TAIWAN IS NEW NAME)

Species Info:

This lifeform is found in Taiwan (old name Formosa). This lifeform can be found in various colors.

Rhomborrhina formosana is found in Taiwan ( formerly Formosa). It generally is a dark green with blue examples also known.

Genus Pseudotorynorrhina contains the following species:

      SPECIES                          LOCATION
      P. fortunei                      China
      P. fortunei nitida               Vietnam
      P. japonica                      Japan, Korea, China
      P. japonica tonkiniana           North Vietnam

Genus Rhomborrhina is generally confined to the area from Japan through China through Malaysia and to India. Because the Taiwanese exported many, many thousands of these beetles during the l970s, most collections of worldwide exotic beetles are certain to contain several examples of this genus. The number of recognized subspecies is noted in parentheses in the following list of the species in the genus:

      SPECIES                       LOCATION
      R. resplendens(3)             China to India
      R. gigantea                   Sunda Islands
      R. mellyi(4)                  China, India, Viet Nahm
      R. gestroi                    Assam & Shillong
      R. violacea                   China
      R. formosana                  Taiwan
      R. unicolor(2)                Japan, China, Tibet
      R. splendida                  Taiwan
      R. polita                     China(?), Japan
      R. jeanneli                   China      
      R. microcephala               India
      R. hiekei                     China
      R. hamai                      Ishigaki Island(Japan)
        
Genus Torynorrhina is closely related to the Rhomborrhina genus. By studying the Mesosternal process on the underside of the beetle, one can separate the two genera. The Anomalocera and Pseudotorynorrhina genus are also related:

    Rhomborrhina - the final plate is about as wide as long.
    Torynorrhina - the final plate is much wider than long, and is about twice as large as the plate in Rhomborrhina.  
The following species are found in the Torynorrhina genus:

    Species                          Location

    T. thiemei                       North Vietnam, China
    T. fulvopilosa                   North Vietnam, China
    T. opalina                       North India, Tibet
    T. pilifera                      Taiwan
    T. hyacinthina                   India to Thailand
    T. flammea                       Burma, China, India
    T. distincta                     India, China, etc.
    T. apicalis                      North India, Himalayan
    T. laotica                       Laos
    T. scutellata                    North Vietnam
        
The Trigonophorus genus is closely related to the Rhomborrhina group, but both the male and female have a small distinctive paddle at the end of their head. The following species are found in the Trigonophorus genus:

    Species                       Location

    T. nepalensis                    India
    T. saundersi                     India
    T. scintillans                   Sikkim
    T. gracilipes                    India
    T. feae                          Burma
    T. hookeri                       India
    T. rothschildi                   China, Tibet
    T. varians                       Taiwan    
    T. foveiceps(Only l known)       Burma  
    T. yunnanus                      China

Flower Beetles (Cetoniinae subfamily) is a group of scarab beetles that typically feed as adults on flowers of various plants. Many of the species are very beautifully colored.  Although there are a few interesting species in this subfamily found in the New World, the vast majority of the large and colorful species are found in Africa and the Indo-Australian regions. Kaoru Sakai estimates that there are about 3,200 known species of flower beetles.

Scarab Beetles, family Scarabaeidae, are worldwide in distribution. They usually have a small club-like antennae. For ease in information retrieval, the subfamilies of this extremely large family are treated herein as a separate families.

Scarab Family of Beetles has been arbitrarily divided here into the following groups:

         Cetoniinae Subfamily      Flower Beetles
         Dynastinae Subfamily      Rhino or Horned Beetles
         Scarabaeinae Subfamily    Dung Beetles and related
         Melolinthinae Subfamily   June beetles and related
         Ruteliinae, etc.          Rest of the scarabs

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.

 

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