Heliocopris bucephalus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Suborder:
Polyphaga
Superfamily:
Cucujoidea
Family:
Scarabaeidae
Subfamily:
Scarabaeinae
Genus:
Heliocopris
Species:
H. bucephalus
Binomial name
Heliocopris bucephalus
(Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
  • Scarabaeus bucephalus Fabricius, 1775
  • Scarabaeus cristatus Degeer, 1778
  • Heliocopris bucephalus Arrow, 1931
  • Heliocopris bucephalus Balthasar, 1963
  • Heliocopris bucephalus Chandra, 2005

Heliocopris bucephalus, commonly known as Elephant dung beetle,[1] is a species of dung beetle found in India,[2] Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Java, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.[3][4][5]

Description

This large, broad, globular and quadrate species has an average length of about 39 to 55 mm. Body black whereas elytra and ventrum usually deep red in color. Legs and ventrum covered with coarse rust-red hair. Small head and pronotum coarsely rugose. Elytra very smooth and shining. Clypeus moderately finely, vertex more coarsely, and transversely strigose. Pronotum very unevenly rugose or reticulate. Elytra are very lightly striate. Male smaller than female and more reddish. Female basically black in color. Male possess a slender, curved and pointed horn, a maximum and minor phase with changes in the head and pronotum. But in female, head strongly transverse with transverse carina.[6][7]

Adults are common at night, in the months of August and September.[8] The urease-negative basidiomycetous yeast called Trichosporon heliocopridis is known to associated with the adult beetles of the species.[9] In Thailand, it is also considered as an edible food.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Heliocopris bucephalus species page". THAILAND NATURE PROJECT. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  2. ↑ "Taxonomic studies on Lamellicorn Scarabaeids (Coleoptera) of Simbalbara Wildlife Sanctuary, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India" (PDF). A Journal of Indian Zoology: Volume 112 (Part-I) Year 2012. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  3. ↑ "Heliocopris bucephalus (Fabricius, 1775)". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  4. ↑ Kunthiphun, Sineenath; Endoh, Rikiya; Takashima, Masako; Ohkuma, Moriya; Tanasupawat, Somboon; Akaracharanya, Ancharida (2016-03-01). "Trichosporon heliocopridis sp. nov., a urease-negative basidiomycetous yeast associated with dung beetles (Heliocopris bucephalus Fabricius)". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 66 (3): 1180–1186. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.000850. PMID 26674642. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  5. ↑ "Scarab Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) of Melghat Tiger Reserve, Central India". Academic Journal of Entomology 5 (2): 73-80, 2012. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  6. ↑ "Heliocopris bucephalus (Fabricius, 1775)". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  7. ↑ "Collecting Heliocopris the world's largest dung beetles". SCARABS. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  8. ↑ "Morphology of the head capsule and mouth parts of Heliocopris bucephalus fabre (coleoptera, polyphaga, scarabæoidea, scarabæidæ, coprinæ)" (PDF). Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  9. ↑ Kunthiphun, Sineenath; Endoh, Rikiya; Takashima, Masako; Ohkuma, Moriya; Tanasupawat, Somboon; Akaracharanya, AncharidaYR 2016 (2016). "Trichosporon heliocopridis sp. nov., a urease-negative basidiomycetous yeast associated with dung beetles (Heliocopris bucephalus Fabricius)". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 66 (3): 1180–1186. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.000850. PMID 26674642. Retrieved 2021-07-22.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "Fatty acid composition of some edible dung beetles in Thailand" (PDF). International Food Research Journal 17: 1025-1030 (2010). Retrieved 2021-07-22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.