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Species Onthophagus hecate - Scooped Scarab

Onthophagus hecate - male small dung beetle - Onthophagus hecate - female Scooped Scarab - Onthophagus hecate - male Beetle-never seen one like this - Onthophagus hecate Onthophagus hecate hecate on pin - Onthophagus hecate - male dung beetle - Onthophagus hecate - male Missing Tarsi - Onthophagus hecate Dung Beetle in Pennsylvania - Onthophagus hecate - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)
Superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Scarab, Stag and Bess Beetles)
Family Scarabaeidae (Scarab Beetles)
Subfamily Scarabaeinae (Dung Beetles)
Genus Onthophagus
Species hecate (Scooped Scarab)
Size
6-9 mm
Identification
Dull black, with a brassy look. Pronotum densely granulate.
Male has a long "horn" jutting from pronotum, usually bifurcated at end. See image:
Range
Eastern and central North America. Absent from west, Florida.
Habitat
General, has been found near deciduous woodlands in North Carolina.
Season
North Carolina: March-November at low elevations, April-September in mountains. Listed all year from South Carolina.
Food
Dung, rotting fruit, carrion.
Life Cycle
Found on dung and carrion.
Remarks
This must be quite a little fighter, with such armament!
Print References
Dillon, p. 514, Plate XLIX (1)
Papp, p. 182, fig. 625 (2)
Arnett, p. 170, fig. 417 (3)
Harpootlian, p. 21, figs. 29, 248 (4)
Brimley, p. 199 (5)
Salsbury, p. 180 (6)
Internet References
Abundant in the NCSU Entomology Collection, with 308 pinned.
Insects of Cedar Creek has photos of specimens male and female, related species.
Insects of Quebec has photos of specimens.
Works Cited
1.A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
By Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence
2.Introduction to North American Beetles
By Charles S. Papp
3.How to Know the Beetles
By Ross H. Arnett, N. M. Downie, H. E. Jaques
4.Scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of South Carolina
By Phillip J. Harpootlian
5.Insects of North Carolina
By C.S. Brimley
6.Insects in Kansas
By Glenn A. Salsbury and Stephan C. White