One of Africa’s giant beetles is just one step away from extinction. New research has found that one species of the enormous Goliath beetles has been almost wiped out by the west African cocoa industry and, to a lesser extent, by the international trade in dried insects. Luca Luiselli, a professor of biostatistics and ecology at the University of Lomé (Togo), has researched threatened species in African forests for 30 years. He explains what has gone wrong and how the Goliath beetle could be saved.
What is the Goliath beetle and why is it so important?
The Goliath beetles (genus Goliathus) are among the world’s biggest insects. There are five different species. They grow up to 110mm long; males have Y-shaped horns and females do not have horns. The beetles are found in the rainforests of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan.
