BEETLE GENUS ONTHOPHAGUS — HOWDEN, CARTWRIGHT HI 



male, but with the tubercles slightly larger and fewer in number, 

 and the setae generally shorter. 



Pygidium less convex than in male, otherwise quite similar. Ventral 

 surfaces in general similar to those of male, the coarse setae more 

 scattered; the last abdominal segment of approximately equal length 

 throughout and lacking the characteristic emargination of the male. 

 Legs generally stockier than in male with apex of forefemora not 

 extending to lateral prothoracic margins; foretibiae short and rather 

 stocky without conical projection over the tibial spine, the tibial spine 

 fairly slender and curved inwardly in apical half. 



Type. — Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 



Type locality. — "Amerique Boreale." 



Specimens examined. — 295. 



Distribution. — (See fig. 7, p. 59.) 



Alabama: Mobile. Florida: Miami, MonticeJlo, Mossyhead, Newmans Lake 

 (Alachua Co.), Wacissa. Georgia: Atlanta, Baker Co., Boston, Fort Valley. 

 LOUISIANA: Covington. Mississippi: (State label), new jersey: Blount Springs, 

 Browns Mills, Chatsworth, Iladden Heights, Lakehurst, Malaga, Mt. Misery, 

 Rancocas Park, Riverside, Riverton, Westville. north Carolina: Carthage, 

 Southern Pines, West End. Pennsylvania: Broomall. south Carolina: 

 Beaufort, Belton, Coshiers Valley Road (Oconee Co.), CCC Camp 2 (Oconee Co.), 

 Clinton, Columbia, Florence, Fish Hatchery (Oconee Co.), Jocassee, Meredith, 

 Pinnacle Mt., Seabrooks Island, Venus (Pickens Co.), Walhalla, White Pond. 

 Tennessee: Black Mts. (Cumberland Co.), Burrville. 



Remarks. — Onthophagus concinnus can be separated from closely 

 related species by the shining bright green, rarely purplish, head and 

 pronotum, dark greenish-black elytra with yellowish-brown base and 

 apex, and pronotum with almost circular tubercles separated by more 

 than their own diameters. A few specimens are very hard to distin- 

 guish from 0. medorensis in color and sexual characteristics, but in 

 these specimens the three or more irregular rows of tubercles on the 

 elytral intervals will usually distinguish this species. It can be sepa- 

 rated from 0. hecate and 0. blatchleyi by the dorsal coloration and the 

 pronotal protuberance of the male major, which lacks downward- 

 projecting median teeth. 



Biologically, 0. concinnus is still somewhat of an enigma. It is a 

 widely distributed species, occurring in the spring and fall from New 

 Jersey to Florida and westward to Mississippi. Nowhere does it seem 

 common. A possible explanation of its seeming rarity may stem from 

 the fact that the adults are usually taken on the droppings of small 

 mammals, skunks, foxes, and possibly others, only occasionally being 

 taken on human feces or cow dung. It has been taken under fungi, 

 under chicken manure, and a few specimens have been collected in 

 fermenting malt traps. Several live females were placed in flower pots 

 and supplied with fresh cow droppings, but none of the specimens 



