Looking at the rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes nasicornis) you know what to expect! The males of the rhinoceros beetle carry a backward curved horn on their head in order to beat conspecifics, in the struggle for the female. I found this specimen in a habitat tree together with a female and the rival. Male European rhinoceros beetle Male specimens like the one up here in the picture are about the size of a rectangular Lego brick (1,18 in). The horn can be up to 0,39 in long. It is a sexually dimorpic species. The male's head is topped by a long curved horn (hence its common name), while the...

Surely each of us has seen him before and the award “Insect of the Year”, given to him in 2000, certainly contributed to his popularity: The Golden Shining Rose Beetle (Cetonia aurata). With its iridescent optics it inspires large and small, and I also find it incredibly engaging, which is why it often lands in front of my lens. The colouration of rose beetles is very variable and with a size of 14-20 mm it can shine in many metallic colours. The large beetles (imagines) fly from April to September, but what hardly anyone knows, and where our habitat tree now comes into play, is that they lay...

The purpose of this blog is to generate added value...However, I also need your help to do this, because I would like to respond specifically to conflicts of interest. What are their main issues on site and what problems arise from the interface’s citizen-community-tree-nature conservation? In future, my intention will be to publish articles here that highlight specific issues and address them with current study results and my experiences from citizen meetings, community council meetings, and building committees. Feel free to contact me via the contact page about what is on your mind, or a...