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Bolboceratid beetle

Australobolbus gayndahensis

Photo by Mark Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Pink eyes visible from above (full circle) and below (partial sphere) 10mm long. This little beetle had a very rich orange-brown elytra; amazing gadgets around its head; also dense ventral setae.

Habitat:

Flew in from back yard to sample my vegetarian cooking.

Notes:

Family Bolboceratidae.... (sometimes treated as Bolboceratinae; under Geotrupidae)
"These handsome insects look like dung beetles, to which they are related. However, they have 11-segmented antennae while dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) have 8 or 9 segments in their antennae. Australian Bolboceratids are predominantly reddish brown, while scarabaeines are mostly black. An interesting characteristic of these beetles is that they have strong asymmetric mandibles. Most species show significant sexual dimorphism, making identification of the sexes rather difficult. It is believed (recently) that they are not coprophagous, but feed on decaying plant matter, humus and fungi. They excavate deep, usually vertical burrows in the soil, pack them with fodder and lay their eggs there." - George Hangay & Paul Zborowski ]A guide to the beetles of Australia' <br>
In the national insect collections there are 3 species occurred in Victoria. They are gayndahensis, austrinus, and bihamas. I can't find any web images for any of these so will be reading texts for descriptions. It is probably worth noting the the CSIRO link in reference only has genus level for a near identical looking specimen.
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:19… <br>
Thanks Martinl for direction.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (20)

"It is believed (recently) that they are not coprophagous, but feed on decaying plant matter, humus and fungi."
This is a really neat scarab-bolbo. Never heard of that family before! Love the pink eyes!
You should try google on it. They insist everytime that you are looking for 'Australia Bus' (idiots) :)
Nice to see it identified. Astralobulbus! Great to roll around in the mouth
Thanks Neil. Didn't have to go far to find it. My species search is getting deep but interesting ! :)
This looks like a badly pimped VW. Cool pic and awesome beetle. Great spotting, Argy :-)
Got pink eyes in a Melbourne species of Australobolbus - woohoo.
I'm not sure what's going on here martin. The top view shows a complete circle of eye which by my estimation cannot be seen from below. How could something then be part covering it without making a segment of a circle?
Subfamily = Bolboceratinae Blackburnium reichei (Australia) has black eyes http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/3311057083/ This one has pink eyes but no name. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29697818@N03/8100683424 in Chile http://www.flickr.com/photos/giaa/8090541883/
Oh.. thanks for that martin. No wonder there were no flowers around this girl. I will sterilise the cutting board yet again. 8-|
This is a dung beetle Here is a similar one http://bugguide.net/node/view/449066 The males have small horns usually http://bugguide.net/node/view/19076 The eyes normally see upwards and downwards. Some beetles have subdivided eyes but not yours. The antennae are folded back in the two ventral views and this makes the eyes appear divided. I haven't found your species but haven't really looked yet. She may have pink eyes because she's a girl?
I can't find anything about it Keith. Sure looks that way to me but I'm no beetle anatomist. I guess it would be nice to see the flower you were about to chafe :)
Wow! Looks like a boss that I played on Super Mario Galaxy 2! Great shot! :-)
Thanks Stephen. Unfortunately it wouldn't stop running around so the shots could be better.

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