Adelaide Unicorn Beetle
S1, Male, dorsal
Adelaide Unicorn Beetle
S3, Male, dorsal
| Adelaide Unicorn Beetle S1, Male, dorsal | | Adelaide Unicorn Beetle S3, Male, dorsal | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Beetles (Coleoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Scarab Beetle (Scarabaeidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Adelaide Unicorn Beetle (Novapus adelaidae) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S2, Female, dorsal🔎 | ||||
Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere 1st Live Photo on-line: ~17 to ~21mm long. Marie found all 3; the first (male) was dead on the ground; the other female & male were found live on the ground. We spent hours trying to id it via photographs and thought it was Novapus crassus, a very similar species. Mark said "It exhibits all the features of this species - pygidium setose on base and apical ridge; mentum setose on disc; deep, abrupt pronotal excavation with shallow vermiform punctures on the disc; large bifurcate cephalic horn; subobsolete upper carina on hind tibia as well as a number of other features." In 1887 Rev. T. Blackburn states of this species (which he described) "I have seen a good many specimens taken in the Adelaide district.". It's a pity they are so rare today. The females don't have the horn, nor the depression. | |||||
| |||||
| |||||