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Genus Diplotaxis

black scarab - Diplotaxis liberta Diplotaxis knausii Diplotaxis simplex Blanchard - Diplotaxis simplex - male Beetle - Diplotaxis subcostata lil beetle - Diplotaxis bidentata 905W16 - Diplotaxis puberula Diplotaxis sp - Diplotaxis brevicollis May Beetle - Diplotaxis subcostata
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
Superfamily Scarabaeoidea
Family Scarabaeidae (Scarab Beetles)
Subfamily Melolonthinae (May Beetles and Junebugs)
Tribe Diplotaxini
Genus Diplotaxis
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
revised in (1)
Diplotaxis is also a plant genus in the Brassicaceae
Explanation of Names
Diplotaxis Kirby 1837
'double arrangement'
Numbers
105 spp. in our area(2), ~250 total(3), ~50 in TX(4)
Size
4.5‒16 mm(1)
Identification
the only scarabs in the NA that have such a small, well-exposed pygidium(1)
keys to species: New World(1) · e.US(5) · SC(6) · NE(7)
Range
Canada to Brazil; most diverse in Mexico and sw.US(2)
Food
Adults feed on the foliage of various plants(8)
Life Cycle
Adults mostly nocturnal(8)
Remarks
larvae of some species may damage seedlings of commercially grown trees
See Also
Print References
(9)
Works Cited
1.A revision of the genus Diplotaxis (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Melolonthinae), Parts 1 and 2.
Patricia Vaurie. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.
2.Three new species of Diplotaxis Kirby from Guatemala and Mexico (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Melolonthinae), with a key...
Delgado L., Toledo-Hernández V.H. 2020. ZooKeys 993: 35‒46.
3.Catalogue of Life
4.An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea of Texas.
Edward G. Riley & Charles S. Wolfe. 2003. Southwestern Entomologist, Supplement. 37 pp.
5.Diplotaxis of the Eastern United States, with a new species and other notes (Coleop., Scarabaeidae)
Vaurie P. 1956. Col. Bull. 10: 1‒9.
6.Scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of South Carolina
Phillip J. Harpootlian. 2001. Clemson University Public Service.
7.The Scarabaeoid Beetles of Nebraska
Brett C. Ratcliffe & M.J. Paulsen. 2008. University of Nebraska State Museum, Vol 22, 570 pp.
8.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.
9.Two new species of Diplotaxis Kirby, 1837, from Arizona with a key and notes on the D. misella group (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
Davidson J.P., Davidson J.M. 2006. Pan-Pac. Entomol. 82: 74–81.