''Moneilema gigas'', Pima County, Arizona ''Moneilema gigas'', Pima County, Arizona ''Moneilema gigas'' is a large, flightless, black

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

native to the

Sonoran desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

at elevations below 1500 metres. The front wings are fused forming a single, hardened shell. Collectively - with 19 other ''Moneilema'' species - ''M. gigas'' is also known as the cactus longhorn beetle. ''Moneilema gigas'' normally feeds on chollas and prickly pear cacti, and is known to feed on

saguaro The saguaro ( , ; ''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains ...

seedlings. Larvae bore into cactus roots and stems, sometimes killing more susceptible individuals. Adults also feed on the surface of cacti. ''M. gigas'' are most active during mid or late summer - the adults typically emerging during the summer monsoon season. Like many flightless beetles, these beetles have limited wing musculature with a rounded abdomen and thorax, similar in appearance to a number of other flightless desert beetles. Cactus longhorn beetles resemble and mimic the behavior of noxious stink beetles in the genus ''

Eleodes ''Eleodes'' (commonly known as pinacate beetles or desert stink beetles) is a genus of darkling beetles, in the family Tenebrionidae. They are endemic to western North America ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico with many species fou ...

''.

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External links

Range expansions in the flightless longhorn cactus beetlesEvolutionary Consequences of Dispersal Ability in Cactus-feeding Insects
Moneilemini Beetles of North America Beetles described in 1873 Taxa named by John Lawrence LeConte {{Lamiinae-stub