Species Digitonthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Scarabaeus gazella Fabricius, J.C. 1787. Mantissa Insectorum sistens eorum species nuper detectas adiectis characteribus genericus, differentiis specificis, emendationibus, observationibus. Hafniae : Christ. Gottl. Proft. Vol. 1 xx 348 pp. [377].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ZMUC 3 specimens, Guinea; ZMK 4 specimens, Guinea.

  Type locality references:

  Fabricius, J.C. 1792. Entomologia Systematica Emendata et Aucta. Secundum, Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, adjectis synonimis [sic], locis, observationibus, descriptionibus. Hafniae : Christ. Gottl. Proft. Vol. 1(1) xx 330 pp. [56].

 

Generic Combinations

• Onthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787).

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Afrotropical and Oriental Regions, introduced to Australia, central and eastern NSW, throughout QLD and NT and northern WA, also Lord Howe Island; also introduced to Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and USA.

Introduced from South Africa.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: coprophagous, diurnal, terrestrial, volant, volant, volant.

Larva: coprophagous.

Extra Ecological Information

Open areas, pastures, mainly cattle dung.

 

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. [316] (new records)

Bornemissza, G.F. 1970. Insectary studies on the control of dung breeding flies by the activity of the dung beetle, Onthophagus gazella F. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 9: 31-41 (biology)

Bornemissza, G.F. 1976. The Australian dung beetle project 1965–1975. Australian Meat Research Committee Review 1976: 1-30 (biological control)

Ferreira, M.C. 1969. Os Escarabídeos de África (Sul do Sáara). I. Revue d'Entomologie de Moçambique 11: 1-1088 pls 1-288, Annexo 1-44 [780] (extralimital synonymy)

Fincher, G.T., Stewart, T.B. & Hunter, J.S. III 1983. The 1981 distribution of Onthophagus gazella Fabricius from releases in Texas and Onthophagus taurus Schreber from an unknown release in Florida (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The Coleopterists Bulletin 37: 159-163 (distribution)

Halffter, G. & Edmonds, W.D. 1982. The Nesting Behaviour of Dung Beetles (Scarabaeinae). An Ecological and Evolutive Approach. Mexico : Instituto de Ecología 176 pp. (biology)

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 [64] (new record for LHI)

Rougon, C. & Rougon, D. 1980. Contribution à la biologie des Coléoptères coprophages en région sahélienne. Étude du développement d'Onthophagus gazella (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae). Revue d'Ecologie et de Biologie du Sol 17: 379-392 (biology)

Rougon, C. & Rougon, D. 1981. Description de la larve d'Onthophagus gazella Fabricius [Col. Scarabaeidae]. Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 86: 6-13 (larval description)

Williams, G.A. & Williams, T. 1983. A survey of the Aphodiinae, Hybosorinae and Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from small wet forests of coastal New South Wales, Part 3: Buladelah to Taree. Victorian Naturalist 100: 98-105 (distribution)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
02-Sep-2019	SCARABAEIDAE	25-Jul-2019	MODIFIED
		06-May-2013	MODIFIED