Heteronychus arator

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Heteronychus arator
Heteronychus arator01.jpg
Heteronychus arator00.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Scarabaeiformia
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Heteronychus
Species:
H. arator
Binomial name
Heteronychus arator
(Fabricius, 1775)

Heteronychus arator (hetero+onychus = 'variable claw', arator = 'ploughman') is a species of beetle in the subfamily Dynastinae (the rhinoceros beetles). It is commonly called African black beetle or black lawn beetle. [1] It is native to Africa and it is an introduced species in Australia, Norfolk Island and the North Island of New Zealand. [2]

Contents

Morphology

It is a shiny black (or dark reddish brown) oval-shaped beetle 12-15 millimeters long. The head lacks a carina or tubercles, unlike some other scarabs. The clypeus is truncate with distinct lateral margins, and dentate with a denticle in the middle. Each mandible has 2-3 teeth on the outer edge and is visible when looking at the beetle from above. Each antenna is 10-segmented and ends in a 3-segmented club. On the underside of the head is a mentum with a rounded apex. Each eye is partially split by a glabrous (smooth) ocular canthus. The pronotum is smooth, convex and lacks punctures. The elytra have rows of shallow striae. The propygidium (dorsal plate of the second-last abdominal segment) has a pair of stridulatory bands. The hind legs have tibiae with truncate apices. All legs end in simple tarsal claws. [3]

Diet

Adults feed on stems of plants at or just below ground level, while larvae feed on organic matter and roots in soil. [1] This species may damage lawns and other turf, especially during the summer, as well as many crop plants, garden flowers, [4] trees and shrubs. [1] It prefers some plants over others: larvae gain more weight when feeding on ryegrass than on white clover or lotus. [5]

Diseases

This species is infected by a small RNA virus. This virus develops in the cytoplasm of gut and fat body cells. It can also infect larvae of greater wax moth ( Galleria mellonella ) and some other insects, but cannot infect mice. [6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 African black beetle (Heteronychus arator) - pest of viticulture. Archived 2011-03-20 at the Wayback Machine Western Australia Department of Agriculture. 2005.
  2. ↑ "Heteronychus arator (African black beetle)". CABI Compendium. 2022. doi:10.1079/cabicompendium.27067. S2CID   253615399 . Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  3. ↑ "Heteronychus arator". keys.lucidcentral.org. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  4. ↑ African Black Beetle - Heteronychus arator. iLandscape.com.au, April 3, 2012.
  5. ↑ King, P. D. (1977). "Effect of plant species and organic matter on feeding behaviour and weight gain of larval black beetle, Heteronychus arator (Coleoptera: Sacrabaeidae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 4 (4): 445–448. doi: 10.1080/03014223.1977.9517968 . ISSN   0301-4223.
  6. ↑ Longworth, J. F.; Carey, G. P. (1976-10-01). "A Small RNA Virus with a Divided Genome from Heteronychus arator (F.) [Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae]". Journal of General Virology. 33 (1): 31–40. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-33-1-31 . ISSN   0022-1317. PMID   978185.

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