Heliocopris bucephalus

Heliocopris bucephalus
File:Heliocopris bucephalus Fabricius, 1775 (3012476109).jpg
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Scarabaeiformia
Family:	Scarabaeidae
Genus:	Heliocopris
Species:	H. bucephalus
Binomial name
Heliocopris bucephalus (Fabricius, 1775)
Synonyms
Scarabaeus bucephalus Fabricius, 1775 Scarabaeus cristatus Degeer, 1778 Heliocopris bucephalus Arrow, 1931 Heliocopris bucephalus Balthasar, 1963 Heliocopris bucephalus Chandra, 2005

Heliocopris bucephalus, commonly known as the elephant dung beetle, is a species of dung beetle found in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Java, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Description

This large, broad, globular, and quadrate species has an average length of about 39 to 55 mm. The body is black whereas the elytra and ventrum are usually deep red in color. The legs and ventrum are covered with coarse rust-red hair. They have a small head and the pronotum is coarsely rugose. The elytra are very smooth, shiny, and very lightly striate. The clypeus is moderately fine, whereas the vertex is more coarse and transversely strigose. The pronotum is either very unevenly rugose or reticulate.

Males are smaller and more red than females. Females are almost entirely black in color. Males possess a slender, curved, and pointed horn. They also have a maximum and minor phase with changes in the head and pronotum. In females, the head is strongly transverse with transverse carina.

Adults are common at night, in the months of August and September. The urease-negative basidiomycetous yeast called Trichosporon heliocopridis is known to be associated with adult beetles of the species. In Thailand, the species is considered an edible food.