eTawau > Insects of Borneo > Beetles > Atractocerus, Ji Min, 2026

Species record · Coleoptera: Lymexylidae

A ship-timber beetle, Atractocerus, at Ji Min Moral Uplifting Society

One adult resting on the stone fencing of the garden courtyard, Shan-Shui Golf & Country Club, Tawau, 6 October 2026, 17:29

A long, slender orange-brown insect on a round granite ball of a fence, with a garden pond and flower beds behind.
17:29:15, on the granite ball, the courtyard pond behind.
From above: pale head and long pale pronotum, long veined wings folded flat along the body, and a segmented orange-brown abdomen tapering beyond them.
17:29:36, from above.
The beetle beside a gold Malaysian 50 sen coin held by a finger; the beetle is nearly twice as long as the coin is wide.
17:30:14, with a 50 sen coin (22.65 mm) for scale.
Side view: the head bent down with a large dark eye, the folded wings lying along the body, and the long abdomen tapering to a point beyond them.
17:33:31, from the side.

All cropped and reduced from the camera originals; nothing else changed. Flash fired.

The record

DateTuesday 6 October 2026
Time17:29–17:34, early evening
PlaceGarden courtyard of Ji Min Moral Uplifting Society (斗湖德教會濟明善社), at a corner of the Shan-Shui Golf & Country Club land, Tawau, Sabah. 22.1 km from 0 km Tawau (Google Maps)
HabitatLandscaped courtyard with a pond and flower beds; the Membalua Forest Reserve is nearby
SubstrateA round granite ball on the courtyard's stone fencing
BehaviourStood still; did not move, even while being photographed
NumberOne, adult
SizeAbout 40 mm, head to tip of abdomen, estimated from the coin (the stone is curved, so allow a millimetre or two either way). The coin's diameter, 22.65 mm, was checked with calipers
CameraPanasonic DMC-LX5, four frames in five minutes, flash
ObserverWong Fook Yee, stopping with a friend from Kota Kinabalu on the way back from the airport
iNaturalistobservation 406454844

Identification

Order Coleoptera · Family Lymexylidae (ship-timber beetles) · Genus Atractocerus.
Species not determined.
  • Body very long, narrow and soft-looking, orange-brown.
  • Elytra very short; the large membranous hind wings, strongly veined, are folded lengthwise and lie flat along the body.
  • Abdomen long, segmented and tapering, reaching well beyond the folded wings to a pointed tip.
  • Head rounded and bent down, with large dark eyes; antennae short; pronotum long, narrow and pale buff.
  • Legs slender and pale.

Few beetles look like this: the tiny elytra, the long hind wings folded over a soft abdomen that projects beyond them, and the large-eyed bent head are the marks of Atractocerus. The species cannot be told from photographs.

Remarks

Ship-timber beetle larvae bore into dead and dying wood; the adults live only a short time and are usually seen at dusk or at lights, which fits an insect found standing still at 17:29. This is the first ship-timber beetle on this site with a date and a place. The site's older page on the family has background only.

Related: 斗湖德教會濟明善社 Ji Min Moral Uplifting Society · Dendrolycosa spider from the same garden, 2020 · Ship-timber beetles · Beetles · Two pairs of wings
Photographs © Wong Fook Yee. Locality, date, time and behaviour are the photographer's own; identification posted at genus on iNaturalist. Record page written 7 October 2026.