Frégate Island Giant Tenebrionid Beetle

The Frégate Island giant tenebrionid beetle is a flightless darkling beetle native to one island in the Seychelles. Its dark brown body has a rounded, heavily textured back and long legs. Adults shelter in bark crevices by day and climb trees and logs at night. They feed on fallen fruit, fungi and other plant material; larvae develop in decaying wood, where females lay eggs.

Zoo conservation programs maintain breeding colonies with deep moist substrate, rotten hardwood and climbing branches. It is classified as Vulnerable. Its defensive secretion has a musky odor and can stain skin.