364 Records of the S.A. Museum 



ONTHOPHAGUS LAMINATUS Macl. 



Plate vii, ligs. 12-20. 



In commenting on 0. quinquetuhcrculatus, Blackburn (^) considered the 

 name was probably a synonym of 0. atrox. If Macleay rightly mated the speci- 

 mens standing as types (and this certainly appears to be the case), the male is a 

 specimen of the species Blackburn identified as 0. atrox, with the punctures of the 

 prothorax less coarse than usual, and with its median prominence more produced 

 and narrower at the tip than usual ; the head and elytra being in exact agreement. 

 The female agrees with specimens identified by Blackburn as 0. pngnax. 



As Avith many other species of the genus, the sexes may differ strongly, or 

 approach each other so closely that from external observation of the upper- 

 surface it is difficult to decide as to the sex of an individual. A freshly matured 

 specimen is often much more polished than an old one, and with age the clothing 

 (Blackburn relied upon this in 0. atrox) is apt to become abraded, til)ial teeth, 

 and projections on the head (especiall}- the front ones used for shovelling), and 

 prothorax to become blunted, etc. 



I believe that but few of the names treated as distinct in Blackburn's Group 2, 

 up to and inclusive of 0. pugnacior, can be maintained, and that the character, 

 "The basal gutter of the pronotum dilated hindward in the middle," as again.st 

 "not dilated hindward," to be quite worthless; the differences there are sliglit, 

 only of degree, and liable to individual rather than specific variation, and the 

 other characters used are mostly of degree. Blackburn partly relied upon the 

 crenulations of the front tibiae of 0. coivleyi as a useful distinguishing feature 

 from those of 0. laminatus, but on tAvo of the specimens he had as 0. laminatus, 

 and bearing the same number (1424), one specimen has respectively eight and 

 nine on the front tibiae, and the other five and six; onO. cowleiji they were noted 

 as six or seven. The punctures of the prothorax are decidedly variable, but the 

 elytra are always fine shagreened and with small scattered punctures; the striae 

 are also but little liable to variation. 



From the specimens in the South Australian Museum, being those examined 

 by Blackburn, with the exception of a few specimens (only the type of 0. 

 palmersto7ii was known to him, but I have carefully examined his description of 

 that form), it appears probable that the synom^my is as follows: 



laminatus, Mad., 1863 {pngnax, Har., 1868; coivleyi, Blackb., 1903). 



atrox, Har., 1867 (qitinquetiihcrculatus, Macl., 1871; palmerstoni, Blackb., 

 1903; sloanei, Blackb., 1903; pugnacior, Blackb., 1903). 



With the distinct possibility that all the names should be regarded as- 



(8) Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Aust., 1903, p. 274. 



