Apogonia ferruginea

Apogonia ferruginea
Drawing of the Apogonia ferruginea beetle from the special collections of the University of Amsterdam.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Scarabaeiformia
Family:	Scarabaeidae
Genus:	Apogonia
Species:	A. ferruginea
Binomial name
Apogonia ferruginea (Fabricius, 1781)
Synonyms
Melolontha ferrugineaFabricius, 1781

Apogonia ferruginea, is a species of dung beetle found in India and Sri Lanka. ^{[1] [2]}

Description

Length of the adult is about 5 to 9 mm. Body shiny ferruginous with a faint tint on forehead and thorax. Clypeus coarsely and closely punctured. Forehead with moderately strong punctures. Thorax obliquely narrowed in front with broadest at the middle. Elytra with strong punctures. Pygidium small but with similar puncturation as in thorax. ^[3] Underside of the abdomen is pubescent.

In Rajasthan, the species is known to damage the leaves of pomegranate during June to July. Adults are active at night and easily attracted to light in large numbers. ^[4] Adults are minor pests that feed on flowers, and leaves of rose, ^[5] Acalypha, tamarind, cinnamon, avocado, Ixora and guava. ^[6] Adults have been observed to emerge during the mid April to the mid August. ^[7]

References

1. Chandra, Kailash; Gupta, Devanshu (2011). "Study of Scarabaeid Beetles (Coleoptera) of Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary, Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, India". DCSI. 05: 272–278.
2. Parvez, Asif; Srivastava, Meera (2010). "A short-term surveillance of coleopteran fauna in an agro-ecosystem near Bikaner (Western Rajasthan), India". Biological Forum. 2 (1): 23–29. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.672.3422 .
3. Waterhouse, Charles O. (1894-06-01). "LIX.—Description of Apogonia ferruginea, Fabr., from the type in the Banksian collection of coleoptera". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 13 (78): 513. doi:10.1080/00222939408677744 . Retrieved 2021-07-11.
4. "Occurrence of Apogonia ferruginea Fb. (Melolonthidae: Coleoptera) in Rajasthan". Labdev Journal of Science and Technology 1970 No.2 pp.108 ref.1. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
5. "Studies on faunal composition of Scarabaeids on Rose around Bangalore". Agricultural Science Digest. 26 (4): 257–260. 2006. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
6. Das, Mrinmoy; Bhattacharyya, Badal; Pujari, D.; Handique, Gautam (2016). "Faunal Composition of Scarab Beetles and Their Hosts in Assam". In Chakravarthy, Akshay Kumar; Sridhara, Shakunthala (eds.). Arthropod Diversity and Conservation in the Tropics and Sub-tropics. Springer Singapore. pp. 335–344. doi:10.1007/978-981-10-1518-2_21. ISBN   978-981-10-1517-5 . Retrieved 2021-07-11.
7. "Population dynamics of white grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the rose environment of Northern Bangalore, India". Indian Journal of Science and Technology: Vol.2 No 1 (Jan. 2009). Retrieved 2021-07-10.