Blackburneus stercorosus
Creators: name: Dellacasa, Marco
name: Dellacasa, Giovanni
name: Gordon, Robert D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Aphodiidae
Blackburneus
Blackburneus stercorosus

description: Blackburneusstercorosus (Melsheimer, 1844)   
(Fig. 135-139)  
 Aphodius stercorosus Melsheimer, 1844: 136; Horn 1870: 127; Horn 1887: 35; Jerath 1960: 63 (larval morphology); Woodruff 1973: 98; Ratcliffe and Paulsen 2008: 208.   
 Aphodius (Koshantschikovius) stercorosus; Schmidt 1913: 150; Schmidt 1922: 230; Dellacasa 1988: 202.   
 Blackburneusstercorosus; Gordonand Skelley 2007: 364.   
 Typelocality. Pennsylvania [U.S.A.].   
 Type repository. Unknown to authors; type probably lost.   
 Redescription. Length 3.0- 4.5 mm; oblong, convex, shiny, glabrous. Rufo-testaceous; epistome and pronotal disc dark brownish; elytra with more or less widened dark brownish cloudy discal spot; legs yellowish-brown to dark brown; antennal club testaceous. Head with epistome moderately convex on disc, regularly evenly punctured; punctation somewhat denser and coarser distally, sparser and more superficial medially; clypeus feebly sinuate at middle, round at sides, thinly bordered, edge glabrous; genae round, with extremely short near imperceptible bristles, faintly protrudingfrom the eyes; frontal suture very finely impressed, sometimes almost obsolete; front rather sparsely evenly punctured. Pronotum transverse, convex, dually punctured; large punctures, three to four times larger than small ones, dense and coarse on sides, lacking on disc; small punctures regularly scattered throughout, somewhat distinct on sides, more superficial on disc: lateral margins feebly arcuate, rather thickly bordered, edge glabrous; hind angles obtusely round; base faintly bisinuate. Scutellum flat, sparsely finely punctured. Elytra oval, feebly widened posteriorly, epipleural carina distinctly raised at shoulder, finely striate; striae distinctly punctured, feebly crenulate; interstriae flat, near imperceptibly sparsely punctured on disc; more distinctly punctured and finely microreticulate thus alutaceous on preapical declivity, dull at apex. Hind tibiae superiorapical spur regularly acuminate, somewhat shorterthan first tarsal segment; latterlonger than following three segments combined. Male: head somewhat less convex; pronotum more transverse lessdenselyand coarselypunctured on sides; foretibiae apicalspurstouter and downward curved; aedeagus Fig. 136-137. Female: head somewhat more convex; pronotum somewhat narrowed frontwardly, more coarsely densely punctured on sides; fore tibiae apical spur slender and almost straight.   
 Material examined. CANADA: Québec, Berthierville, 19.VI.1938, leg. J. Ouellet (4 exx., DCGI); USA: Florida (30 exx., DCGI); Illinois: Clark Co., Rocky Branch Creek, N. of Clarkville, 2.VII.1991, leg. P. Skelley, L. Heyer & M. A. Goodrich (4 exx., DCGI); idem, 8-11.VII.1988, leg. P. Skelley (1 ex., DCGI); Macon Co., NW side of Decatur, 7-14.VIII.1988, leg. P. Skelley (pigdung & malt pitfall) (1 ex., DCGI); idem, 15.VIII.1988, leg. P. Skelley (blacklight trap) (1 ex., DCGI); Maine: Bingham, 27.VII.1991, leg. G. Minet (2 exx., BCSC; 1 ex., DCGI); New Jersey: Westwood, VII.1917 (4 exx., DCGI); New York: Catskill Mountains, VII.1977 (1 ex., BCSC); North Carolina: Black Mt., VII.1900 (2 exx., DCGI); Pisgah Forest, 1.VII.1937, leg. O. L. Cartwright (2 exx., DCGI); Pennsylvania (3 exx., DCGI); Tennessee: Fortress Co., Picked State Forest, 26-27.VI.1992, leg. C. Cook (1 ex., BCSC); Virginia: Basye, 18.IX.1943, leg. O. L. Cartwright (6 exx., DCGI); Botetourt Co., Jefferson N. F., 3 mi NE Powell Gap, 5-6.VI.1967, leg. O. L. Cartwright (2 exx., DCGI); Wisconsin: Jefferson N. F., Botetourt, 6.VI.1967, leg. O. L. Cartwright (3 exx., DCGI).   
 Distribution. Canada (Québec), U.S.A. (from Michigan south to Florida, west to eastern Kansas, eastern and southern Texas).   
 Bionomics. Coprophagous species found in several kinds of dung, from April to October; often attracted to light.
description: Published as part of Dellacasa, Marco, Dellacasa, Giovanni & Gordon, Robert D., 2011, Systematic revision of the American taxa belonging to the genera Alloblackburneus Bordat, 2009, and Blackburneus Schmidt, 1913, with description of seven new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), pp. 1-52 in Insecta Mundi 2011 (204) on pages 30-31, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10090539