Species Heteronychus arator (Fabricius, 1775)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Scarabaeus arator Fabricius, J.C. 1775. Systema Entomologiae, sistens Insectorum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, adiectis Synonymis, Locis, Descriptionibus, Observationibus. Flensburgi et Lipsiae [= Flensburg & Leipzig] : Kortii xxxii 832 pp. [Date published 17 April] [18].

  Type data:

   Neotype BMNH, Cape of Good Hope (as Cap B. S.], South Africa.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Landin, B.-O. 1964. The identity of "Scarabaeus arator Fabricius, 1775" (Col. Lamellicornia). Opuscula Entomologica. Lund 29: 117-142 [135].
• Heteronychus sanctaehelenae Blanchard, C.E. 1846. Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les Corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée exécuté par ordre du Roi Pendant les Années 1837–1840. Atlas Zoologique. Paris : Gide & Co. Vol. Insects pls 1-25. [pl. 17, fig. 6] [first introduced as a figure].

  Type data:

   Holotype Saint Helena Is. (as l'île Sainte-Hélène).

  Type locality references:

  Blanchard, C.E. 1853. Description des Insectes. pp. 1-422 in Hombron, J.B. & Jacquinot, H. (eds). Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les Corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée; exécuté par ordre du Roi pendant les années 1837–1840. Zoologie. Paris : Gide & Baudry Vol. 4. [105].
• Heteronychus arator australis Endrödi, S. 1961. Neue afrikanische Formen der Unterfamilien Dynastinae und Hybosorinae (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae). Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines 63: 378-386 [380].

  Type data:

   Holotype Auckland, New Zealand (as Neuseeland).
  Paratype(s) 4 specimens.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Landin, B.-O. 1964. The identity of "Scarabaeus arator Fabricius, 1775" (Col. Lamellicornia). Opuscula Entomologica. Lund 29: 117-142 [136]
• Cassis, G. & Weir, T. A. 1992. Dynastinae. pp. 383-425 in Houston, W.W.K. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea. Canberra : AGPS Vol. 9 544 pp. [401]

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Afrotropical and Neotropical Regions, accidental introduction, southeast QLD to southeast SA, and southwest WA, possibly NW WA, also Lord Howe Island

Introduced from Afrotopical Region (southern Africa).

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: burrower, root-feeder, subterranean, volant.

Larva: root-feeder, subterranean.

Extra Ecological Information

Larvae and adults subterranean, major pest of graminaceous and solanaceous crops.

 

General References

Barbero, E. & Palestrini, V. 2003. Coleoptera Trogidae, Geotrupidae, Hybosoridae, Scarabaeidae (Scarabaeinae and Dynastinae) collected in Australia. pp. 303-328 in Daccordi, M. & Giachino, P.M. (eds). Results of the Zoological Missions to Australia of the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin, Italy. I. Monografie del Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, 35, 565 pp. [322] (first record from NW WA)

Cumpston, D. 1940. On the external morphology and biology of Heteronychus sanctae-helenae Blanch. and Metanastes vuglivagus Oliff (Col. Scarabaeidae, Dynastinae). Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 65: 289-300 (morphology, biology)

Cumpston, D. 1941. A summary of certain aspects of the scarab problem, and a contribution to a bibliography of the family Scarabaeidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 66: 33-40 (biology)

Endrödi, S. 1985. The Dynastinae of the World. Hague : W. Junk 800 pp. (distribution)

Nikitin, M.I. 1966. On the seasonal distribution of some scarab beetles (Col., Scarabaeidae) at Cabramatta, N.S.W. Journal of the Entomological Society of Australia N.S.W. 3: 34-35 (seasonal distribution)

Reid, C.A.M., Shaw, J.J. & Jensen, A.R. 2018. The Australian Museum Lord Howe Island Expedition 2017—Coleoptera. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum 26: 53-67 [65]

Wallace, C.R. 1946. The black beetle as it affects coastal dairy farmers. Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 23: 121-124 (biology)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
02-Sep-2019	SCARABAEIDAE	25-Jul-2019	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)