Pericoptus punctatus

Pericoptus punctatus
Pericoptus punctatus seen at Farewell Spit
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Pericoptus
Species:
P. punctatus
Binomial name
Pericoptus punctatus
(White, 1846)
Drawing of Pericoptus punctatus, originally described as Cheiroplatys punctatus

Pericoptus punctatus is a sand scarab beetle that is endemic to New Zealand.[1] It is a smaller and similar New Zealand scarab beetle species to Pericoptus truncatus.[2][3]

This beetle can be found in sandy coastal areas throughout New Zealand. The adult beetle is nocturnal and obtains the size of approximately 16 – 22 mm in length. It normally spends the daylight hours buried under sand or vegetation such as Marram grass or driftwood. It can fly and is likely to be attracted to lights in the evening.[1]

Taxonomy

This species was originally described by Adam White and named Cheiroplatys punctatus in The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Erebus & HMS Terror in 1846 from a specimen collected by Percy William Earl and obtained from him during the Ross expedition.[4][5] The type specimen for this species was collected in Waikouaiti[6] and is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Monson, Keitha; Emberson, Rowan (2003). Biodiversity of terrestrial invertebrates in Christchurch City: a report for the Christchurch City Council (Report). pp. 37–38. hdl:10182/4169.
  2. ^ Parkinson, Brian; Horne, Don (Photographer) (2007). A Photographic Guide to Insects of New Zealand. New Holland Publishers (NZ) Ltd.
  3. ^ Dale, P. S. (1963). "Ecology, Life History and Redescription of Pericoptus truncatus (Fabricius)". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 3: 17–32.
  4. ^ a b Given, B. B. (1955). "A preliminary note on the Genus Pericoptus (Scarabaeidae, Dynastinae)". New Zealand Entomologist. 1 (5): 16. doi:10.1080/00779962.1955.9722744. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  5. ^ Adam White; Arthur Gardiner Butler (1875). Richardson, John; Gray, John Edward (eds.). The zoology of the voyage of the H.M.S. Erebus & Terror, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, during the years 1839 to 1843. London: E. W. Janson. pp. 9–10. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.7364. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  6. ^ Broun, Thomas (1880). Manual of the New Zealand Coleoptera (Part 1). Wellington: James Hughes. p. 272. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.9559. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
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