From the Vault: An Inordinate Fondness for Beetle Horns

[An old post I'm fond of]

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It's strange enough that beetles grow horns. But it's especially strange that beetles grow so many kinds of horns. This picture, which was published in the latest issue of the journal Evolution, shows a tiny sampling of this diversity. The species shown here all belong to the genus Onthophagus, a group of dung beetles. The colors in this picture, which are false, show which parts of the beetle body the horns grow from. Blue horns grow from the back of the head, red f...