Species Geotrupes splendidus - Splendid Earth Boring Beetle

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Works Cited

School project #1 - Geotrupes splendidus

Geotrupidae, dorsal - Geotrupes splendidus

Scarab beetle on leaf litter in afternoon - Geotrupes splendidus

Geotrupes splendidus? - Geotrupes splendidus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

Superfamily Scarabaeoidea

Family Geotrupidae (Earth-Boring Scarab Beetles)

Subfamily Geotrupinae

Genus Geotrupes

No Taxon (subgenus Cnemotrupes)

Species splendidus (Splendid Earth Boring Beetle)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Geotrupes miarophagus Say 1823, G. gilnickii Jekel 1865, G. starki Jekel 1865, G. mixtus Horn 1868

Cnemotrupes splendidus

Explanation of Names

Geotrupes splendidus (Fabricius 1775)

Size

13.0―20.5 mm(1)

Identification

Bright green, purplish black, or sometimes light blue. Pronotum coarsely, unevenly punctate. Elytral striae with distinct punctures.

Range

QC―GA to NE―TX(1), barely reaches into e.TX(2)

Season

Mar‒Nov in NE(1)

Food

Prefer fungi as food as well as feces, carrion, feathers, and fermenting malt. Drawn to isoamylamine and butyric & proprionic acids(3)

Life Cycle

Provision brood burrows with dead leaves(3)

Works Cited

1.	The Scarabaeoid Beetles of Nebraska Brett C. Ratcliffe & M.J. Paulsen. 2008. University of Nebraska State Museum, Vol 22, 570 pp.

2.	An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea of Texas. Edward G. Riley & Charles S. Wolfe. 2003. Southwestern Entomologist, Supplement. 37 pp.

3.	Beetles of Eastern North America Arthur V. Evans. 2014. Princeton University Press.

Contributed by Phillip Harpootlian on 6 April, 2005 - 8:46am
Additional contributions by cotinis, Mike Quinn, v belov, Marci Hess
Last updated 4 October, 2023 - 4:22pm

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