Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

Species Onitis alexis Klug, 1835

Museums

Regional Maps

Species Onitis alexis Klug, 1835

Bronze Dung Beetle

Distribution

States

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


Extra Distribution Information

Afrotropical Region.

Introduced from southern Africa.


Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.
IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)
drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones (map not available)

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), 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), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

  • Australia
    • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
    • Northern Territory: N coastal
    • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
    • South Australia: S Gulfs
    • Victoria
    • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: coprophagous, crepuscular, open woodland, terrestrial, 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. [315] (probably first SA record)

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

Ferreira, M.C. 1978. The genus Onitis F. of Africa south of the Sahara (Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera). Memoirs Nasionale Museum, Bloemfontein Bloemfontein 10: xvi 1-410 (taxonomy)

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)

Houston, W.W.K. & McIntyre, P. 1985. The daily onset of flight in the crepuscular dung beetle Onitis alexis. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 39: 223-232 (flight times)

Ridsdill Smith, T.J. 1981. Some effects of three species of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in south-western Australia on the survival of the bush fly, Musca vetustissima Walker (Diptera: Muscidae), in dung pads. Bulletin of Entomological Research 71: 425-433 (biology)

Ridsdill Smith, T.J. 1986. The effect of seasonal changes in cattle dung on egg production by two species of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in south-western Australia. Bulletin of Entomological Research 76: 63-68 (biology)

Rougon, D. & Rougon, C. 1984. Description de la larve et de la nymphe d'Onitis alexis Klug (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France ns 20: 411-417 (immature stages)

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
12-Feb-2010 (import)