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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Scarab, Stag and Bess Beetles (Scarabaeoidea) » Earth-Boring Dung Beetles (Geotrupidae) » Bolboceratinae » Bolbocerosoma » Bolbocerosoma farctum

Species Bolbocerosoma farctum

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · See Also · Print References · Works Cited

Earth-Boring Dung Beetle - Bolbocerosoma farctum

Fancy Bolbocerine - Bolbocerosoma farctum - female

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 Geotrupidae (Earth-Boring Dung Beetles)

Subfamily Bolboceratinae

Genus Bolbocerosoma

Species farctum (Bolbocerosoma farctum)

Other Common Names

Fancy Dung Beetle (1)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Bolbocerosoma farctum (Fabricius, 1775). Synonyms:

Bolbocerosoma farctus (spelling)

Explanation of Names

Species name apparently from Latin farc meaning stuff or stuffing, thus farctus = stuffed (2).

Size

8-13 mm.

Identification

A large, very convex beetle, with a bold yelowish/reddish and black pattern. Male has tubercle (small wart-like horn) on clypeus (front of head just above mouthparts). "Antennal club large, round, and convex on both sides; eyes entirely divided" (3) (4).

Range

East of the Rocky Mountains: New York to Ohio, south to Georgia, Miss., South Carolina

Habitat

Found in burrows and at lights (4).

Season

June-October (South Carolina). May-October (North Carolina).

See Also

Bolbocerosoma hamatum of the southeastern coastal plain, is very similar, see Harpootlian (4) for a key. Ranges overlap little, if any.

Bolbocerosoma tumefactum has mostly yellowish pronotum with dark spot.

Print References

Borror, entry for farc (2)

Papp, p. 184, fig. 630 (1)

Arnett et al., pp. 173-174, fig. 426 (3)

Harpootlian, p. 54 (4)

Brimley, p. 201 (5)

Works Cited

1.	Introduction to North American Beetles By Charles S. Papp

2.	Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms By Donald J. Borror

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

Contributed by Stephen Cresswell on 7 September, 2004 - 1:11pm
Additional contributions by cotinis
Last updated 20 November, 2009 - 12:55pm

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