Onthophagus vacca can reach a length of 7–13 millimetres (0.28–0.51 in).[2] Pronotum is densely punctured. The first pair of legs are powerful, with three teeth on the outside and fit to digging. Head, legs and pronotum are black or dark green, while elytrae are yellowish with small green dots, often merged into longitudinal stripes.
Distribution
This species is present in most of Southern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.[3] It was introduced to Australia in 2014 to improve processing of cattle dung.[4]
Bibliography
Mulsant E. (1842) Histoire naturelle des Coléoptères de France. Lamellicornes, Paris, Lyon :1-623
Linnaeus C. (1767) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio XII, Laurentii Salvi, Holmiae 1:1-1327
Scarabs: World Scarabaeidae Database. Schoolmeesters P.
Rossner, E.; Schonfeld, J.; Ahrens, D. 2010. Onthophagus (Palaeonthophagus) medius (Kugelann, 1792)—a good western palaearctic species in the Onthophagus vacca complex (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Onthophagini). Zootaxa 2629: 1–28.
