SCARABS Rich Cunningham Barney Streit 3889 Walnut Avenue 1667 N. Mountain Avenue, #125 Chino, CA 91710 Upland, CA 91784 Occasional Issue Number 8 July, 1993 The placement of the genus Acoma and cal differences to warrant more effort A Bibliography of the Scarabaeoidea others remains disputed. Perhaps it toward collecting this population. of California should be placed in the . Pleocoma, to many workers, seems like Aphodius biology is the subject of Jim’s In this, part two of the Dr. Art Evans, primitive Melolonthinae in both struc- forthcoming master’s thesis, which may Ph.D. double-issue bonanza, we present ture and biology. The placement of Pleo- include the descriptions of new species. a bibliography of the checklist in the pre- cominae should probably reflect this vious issue. This is not meant to be a relationship, if indeed a relationship can Some Arizona species, such as comprehensive work, rather it contains be established. Hybosorus illigeri and Acoma arizonica, references only to the original descrip- occur in Ehrenberg, a literal stone’s tions. This list should serve as a great The list of possible new species contin- throw from Blythe, California. Addi- starting point for those striving to put ues to grow. There may be one or more tional collecting on the California side of together a literature collection on west- new species in the following genera: the Colorado River may produce these ern United States scarabs. Onthophagus, Aphodius, Ataenius, species as well as others. Serica, Parathyce, Phobetus, Phylloph- We again wish to thank Art for a tremen- aga, Polyphylla, Coenonycha, Cremas- Even though the list was only meant to dous job! tocheilus, Hoplia and Glaresis. be a tentative, working model, it was kindly pointed out to us by Dr. Alan The genus Chnaunanthus is currently Hardy that the genus Euoniticellus was being revised by Bill Warner. omitted as well as up to twenty other spe- Discussion of Some Taxa in the cies. Many thanks, Alan! Checklist Dr. David Carlson is currently working on the genus Ochodaeus. There are two Besides the obvious problem of the populations he is unsure of. The first is immensity of a Scarabaeoidea of Cali- from Pinyon Flats, Riverside County, The California Scarab Project fornia project, there is the problem of taken 13-IX-1975, and the other from dealing with several genera that need a Mid Hills, San Bernardino County, taken by Doctor Art Evans, Ph.D. taxonomic overhaul such as Aphodius, 3-VIII-1968. Perhaps additional speci- Chnaunanthus, Phobetus, Phyllophaga, mens would help. You may contact Dave This is the introduction that was sup- Gymnopyge and Hoplia, to name a few. at 5229 Butterwood Circle, Orangevale, posed to accompany “A Checklist of the Then there is the fact that there are a CA 95662, telephone (916) 989-0420. Scarabaeoidea of California” (Scarabs, number of new species that are unde- Occasional Issue Number 7), but due to scribed. Several of these new species are The common imported species listed as various reasons, it was omitted until now. in manuscript form as this issue goes to Onthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787) Contrary to the exhortations of the edi- press. In addition, there are several pop- formerly belonged to the genus Ontho- tors and myself, the checklist was replete ulations of California scarabs that work- phagus, subgenus Digitonthophagus, with suppositions, speculations, and ers are sitting on because they are not which was erected by Balthasar in 1959. errors. The bibliography in this issue sure if ther eare valid new species In 1981, Zunino raised this subgenus to cannot help but reflect these musings and involved or not. generic rank. Please make this correction outright gaffs. on your lists. We wish to thank Dr. Let us go through the checklist and make Gonzalo Halffter for pointing this out to With the recent appearance of Brett Rat- some comments. us. cliffe's Scarabs of Nebraska, it became apparent that the California scarabaeoid Pleocoma trifoliata did not make the Jim Saulnier may have a different Ontho- fauna was ready for a similar review. My checklist because nowhere in the litera- phagus from the Providence Mountains, California checklist had its inception ture is it stated to be from California. As San Bernardino County, taken from a with me in the late 1970's and was cata- stated in our premier issue, it is likely a Neotoma nest. Onthophagus velutinus is pulted into a somewhat more meaningful behrensi-sonomae complex representa- known from this area, and is a known form shortly thereafter by the generous tive, probably from Fort Seward in Hum- inhabitant of Neotoma nests, but Jim assistance given to me by Alan Hardy boldt County. feels that there are enough morphologi- while I was an undergraduate at Cal State Long Beach. Alan had been accumulat- literature. The mission of the Project is to I hope all of you will contribute. If any of ing data on California scarabs for many identify areas of the state in need of basic you are willing and able to breed scarabs, years and had compiled his own list of survey work, direct collecting efforts of please do so. Remember, correct identifi- the state's scarab fauna which he made adults and larvae, encourage the captive cation of the adults is essential when available to me. After a somewhat breeding of scarabs, collate biological dealing with immatures. The immature lengthy hiatus from the scarab world, I and locality data and publish it. By mak- stages of most of our scarab fauna (or recently dusted off my 1980 copy of the ing these data available, present and any scarab fauna, for that matter!) are checklist and proceeded to update it. future generations of scarab workers will unknown. Several regions in California Rich Cunningham and Barney Streit be encouraged to explore the poorly remain poorly known in terms of their assisted me in editing the final copy and known regions of the state and further scarabaeoid fauna, such as the Coast the accompanying bibliography. I would our biological knowledge by including Ranges, extreme northeastern Califor- like to say that all of the errors are my immature stages in our observations and nia, the mountain ranges of the eastern own, but that would be a misrepresenta- collecting efforts. Mojave, Great Basin areas, native rem- tion of the truth! The guilty parties know nants of Central Valley flora and the who they are! Although there have been numerous northern slopes of the San Bernardino scattered species descriptions and Mountains, just to name a few. Many of The purpose of publishing the checklist generic revisions, California's scarabae- the better known regions of the state have in Scarabs was to generate interest oid fauna has never been studied in its only been collected during the spring or among the readership and encourage entirety. Several regional lists of , summer months. Try collecting at some their participation by contributing to the including scarabaeoids, have appeared of your favorite haunts during different checklist. (ed. note: This purpose has for Fort Tejon (Leconte, 1859; Davis, times of the year, or using a variety of been served as we have received numer- 1932), California Channel Islands (Fall, collecting techniques. Our winter/early ous suggestions.) The updated list, which 1897; Fall and Davis, 1934; von Bloeker, spring fauna is in need of further investi- will appear in a future issue of Scarabs, 1939), selected California sand dunes gation. Photographs of habitats or scarab (ed. note: Say what?) will become the (Hardy and Andrews, 1976), San Diego behavior will be of great value to the foundation for a work tentatively entitled County (Moore, 1937), and southern Project. “The Scarabaeoidea of California.” This California (Fall, 1901). work will be copiously illustrated and If any of you have corrections, additions, will include keys, descriptions, distribu- As the dust begins to settle towards the or comments regarding the checklist or tions and biological notes. Discussions end of 1993, I will contact researchers bibliography of the Scarabaeoidea of of California's physical features, climate, and collectors to discuss the various California, or have specimens that you vegetational communities, biogeogra- aspects of the work, particularly with would like included in the California phy, and fossil species will be presented. regards to the location of pertinent mate- Scarab Project, please contact me In the next three or four years parts of the rial and to discuss the resolution of sev- directly at: manuscript will be made available to eral taxonomic issues. A number of interested persons for the purpose of test- undescribed species are awaiting The Zoo, Natural History ing keys, checking descriptions and description and several generic revisions Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los identifying regions requiring further sur- will be initiated in order to fully address Angeles, CA 90007, (213) 744-3558 vey work. the California fauna. Every attempt will office, (213) 746-2999 fax. be made to examine the types of all Cal- During the past 20 years California has ifornia species, particularly those that LITERATURE CITED played host to of one of the highest con- have not been part of recent revisionary centrations of scarabaeologists in the work. von Bloeker, J.C. 1939. 6. Annotated list world. These workers include Ron Alten, of the scarab beetles of the Channel Fred Andrews, Larry Bezark, Dave Carl- I have received numerous friendly jabs Islands. Bulletin of the Southern Califor- son, Rich Cunningham, Bob Duff, Der- with regards to the checklist’s scheme of nia Academy of Sciences 38:152-156. ham Guiliani, Alan Hardy, Frank higher classification. This classification Hovore, Delbert La Rue, Ron McPeak, scheme is not carved in stone. Although Davis, A.C. 1932. A list of the Alex Reifschneider, Neil Rulien, Dave it is often referred to as a “European” Coleoptera of Ft. Tejon, California. Bul- Russell, Jim Saulnier, Kirk Smith, Bar- scheme, I prefer to think that it reflects letin of the Southern California Academy ney Streit and myself. Much of the local- somewhat of a more global perspective. of Sciences 31:75-87. ity, behavioral, and host data collected Despite the uniqueness of the California by these and other individuals remain fauna, it is important that it is viewed Fall, H.C. 1897. A list of the Coleoptera unpublished. with this global perspective. Many of our of the Southern California Islands, with species have been placed in subgenera, notes and descriptions of new species. The purpose of the California Scarabae- tribes, and even other genera in the Euro- The Canadian Entomologist 29:233-244. oidea Project is to develop a network of pean literature, but for various reasons, professional and amateur scarab workers these changes are not presented or dis------1901. List of the Coleoptera of the and encourage the gathering of data in cussed in the North American literature. southern California, with notes on habits the form of specimens, observations, and and distribution and descriptions of new

Page 2 species. Occasional Papers of the Cali- A quirky command structure is no doubt Writer, however, this simply “prints” to fornia Academy of Sciences (8): 1-282. the result from the program’s clunky PC the buffer. You may send one label (really Dos origins. When activated, the pro- two labels) or a fill a full sheet of 40 Fall, H.C. & A.C. Davis. 1934. The gram presents you with two labels, side- (really 80) labels. Therefore, it possible Coleoptera of Santa Cruz Island, Califor- by-side, to be filled out by you. However, to fill a sheet of 80 labels with 80 differ- nia. The Canadian Entomologist 66:143- the program considers these two labels ent labels or several labels in any combi- 144. one label. A letter was written to Perfect nation or even a single label. Niche for an explanation. This inquiry Hardy, A.R. & F.G. Andrews. 1976. A was promptly answered with a return Once you have 40 (80) labels in the final report to the office of endangered telephone call by a friendly and knowl- buffer, the program notifies you and asks species on contract 14-16-0008-966. edgeable support person. She stated that if you wish to print them. To do so, one Insect Taxonomy Laboratory, Division most everyone places two labels on a must issue a Command-B to “Print the of Plant Industry, CDFA. 40 pp. slide, an upper and lower label, so this Buffer.” was why the software treats two labels as Leconte, J.L. 1859. Catalogue of the one label. Once the somewhat unusual commands Coleoptera of Fort Tejon, California. and nomenclature are learned, you will Proceedings of the Academy of Natural There is a set of ten user-definable keys find this dedicated slide label program Sciences of Philadelphia 11:69-90. which will print user-defined lines of one of those utilities you just cannot do text, including time and date stamps, and without. If you have any problems, the Moore, I. 1932. A list of the beetles of copyright notices including the copy- nice people at Perfect Niche will get you San Diego County, California. Occa- right © symbol. For those who use some up-and-running in no time, at no charge. sional Papers of the San Diego Society of sort of cataloging system for their slides, Natural History. 2:1-109. a sequential numbering feature is pro- vided. Dr. Henry F. Howden One way to label a slide is to place the Labeling Photographic Slides latin name of the subject, in italics, on Both editors recently had the privilege of the top label, similar to a determination meeting Dr. Henry Howden at the Because every fine photographic slide label. In this way, if the slide is stored in Algodones Dunes in Imperial County, collection deserves to be properly a slide tray or box, the subject can be California. In the company of his wife, labeled, we investigated several of the determined without removing the slide Ann, and Bill Warner, we literally lit up available computer programs designed itself. The bottom label can hold the the place with our “fancy” AC and DC specifically for this purpose. locality and date the picture was taken, lights. just like the locality label. There is room Several of the programs are available for your name and copyright data for As one might expect when in the com- only for the IBM PC and clones, others those interested in selling their images to pany of someone of Dr. Howden's cali- are written for the Macintosh as well. various publications or photographic ber, time passed by all too quickly. Many The program of choice, by our criteria, stock agencies for publication. things come to mind when talking to Dr. falls into this latter category. Howden. First, the man is friendly and Once these two labels are filled out, they easy to talk to, and has great stories. The CRADOC CaptionWriter™ is avail- are stored in the “buffer.” This is simply Amateurs like your editors found them- able from Perfect Niche Software, Inc., a temporary area of memory in the com- selves at ease. It goes without saying Dr. 7100B East Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ puter to store your work until it is time to Howden commands a great knowledge 85251, TEL (602) 945-2001, FAX (602) print a sheet of labels. If you run a sheet of entomology. Full of fascinating facts 945-1023. They also sell laser labels of labels through a printer twice, it is and anecdotes, Dr. Howden is not afraid made specifically for 35mm slides. possible the heat from the printer will to speak out on a controversial subject or These labels are 7/16” X 1 3/4” and dislodge a label the second time through to postulate theories which could eventu- come 80 printable labels to a sheet. the printer. If this happens, you will have ally be proven wrong. We have always a major problem getting the things off appreciated Dr. Howden's papers, as he The reason this program is the one to buy the rollers! Thus, unless you can afford has been fearless about tackling difficult is that, as of this writing, it is the only lots of labels, wait until you can fill a full or large taxa. program that will allow five lines of text label sheet with 80 labels. If you print out This is not to say Ann takes a back seat. per label. This feature is critical to ento- less than a full sheet, throw the unused Her expertise in the Curculionidae is mologists attempting to place as much labels away. widely known. An energetic collector, scientific data as possible on the slide On the Macintosh, the program defies she collected a series of extremely just as a pin label. Three- or four-line Macintosh convention in its commands. minute and active Carabidae by flash- labels can also be made. Any font can be To place your label (really two labels) light which were running around the chosen, and the print can be set in bold, into the buffer, you issue a Command-P. entrances of rodent burrows. Despite italics, etc., just as in a word processor. In every other program we know of, this many trips to the area, your editors had is the print command. In the Caption- never seen this . While your editors

Page 3 conversed with Dr. Howden, Bill Warner student in graduate school. Under the Please call the office at (513) 529-3181 further embellished the reputations of direction and guidance of Dr. Seldom or the lab at (513) 529-3379 after mailing Arizona collectors by “taking care” of Guttman, we will analyze the DNA and/ a box so we can arrange for someone to their lights for them. The time spent with or enzymes of the Scarab genus Poly- meet it in the mailroom and put the Henry, Ann and Bill was thoroughly phylla to attempt to either add to or fur- specimens into liquid nitrogen as quickly enjoyed. ther sort out the taxonomic muddle. Dr. as possible. Any and all efforts are appre- Guttman is a population geneticist with a ciated. If you need more information A nice series of Acoma glabrata was particular ability in sorting out species please call me at the lab phone. taken, which were noted to be smaller complexes. He has worked on such than typical glabrata. Dr. Howden is cur- widely diverse groups as cranes, sala- rently interested in this group. Perhaps a manders, tree hoppers, fish and opos- group of fossorial (Jim Saulnier, Frank sums over the past several decades. News Flash Hovore, Delbert La Rue, Robert Duff, etc.) southern California collectors can Our goal is to establish through genetic Brett Ratcliffe, University of Nebraska get together some evening and duff out a and biochemical analysis, individual State Museum, has just been awarded female.1992 was a strange year at Gla- species and their relationships. We hope $189,149 by the National Science Foun- mis. Last September, a Xeropsammobius to be able to select those morphological dation to conduct a three-year faunistic desertus (usually a February bug) was characters that best delineate a given spe- survey of the Dynastinae of Costa Rica taken. On this trip, which was in late cies. The widely variable external and and Panama. The results of the study will July, Bill Warner took a Pseudocotalpa genital characteristics may then be better be published in the Bulletin of the State andrewsi, which is generally an April sorted and selected because of the results Museum in a format similar to Ratcliffe's bug. obtained through the enzyme and DNA Scarab Beetles of Nebraska. Keys to taxa testing. For fun, interest and to add to the will be provided in both English and argument, we may apply these tests to Spanish. The study is being conducted higher taxa such as genera, tribes, or sub- with the cooperation of INBIO in Costa I Quit!! families of the Scarab world. Rica, and they will be hiring an appren- tice curator with funds from the grant. By David Russell Along those lines, I need your help!! I Ratcliffe indicated that one of his first am interested in all Polyphylla, and could priorities is to augment the already large It has been brought to my attention that use as many representatives from as data base. once again Phobetus panamintensis has many populations as possible. I am par- escaped the editors. The realization has ticularly interested in unusual or Congratulations and good luck, Brett! finally set in that the northern California restricted populations or morphs. For collectors can’t be constantly bailing out example, the white P. decemlineata from these southern California guys!! The the Mono Lake Dunes of eastern central Chinese have been through the year of California or the P. nr. diffracta from the “Wirth”Less Tip #3 the Cock, the Monkey, the Sheep, the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Utah, just to Horse, the Snake, the Dragon, and the name two. If you collect Phanaeus by roaming pas- Rabbit since the editors stated their tures or grassland and employing the quest. The Chinese are running out of There is a hang-up because the speci- “poking through piles” method, you , both real or mythological! I’ve mens need to be sent alive by overnight could be missing out on many speci- decided partly in sympathy for the edi- mail to us in Ohio. I have found that put- mens. tors and partly in fear of the editor’s col- ting a couple of handfuls of dried grass in lecting techniques being contagious to a paper sack, then simply putting the Remember that calf dung is especially pack up my family, lock, stock, barrel Polyphylla in the bags in the field is easy attractive, but is often found in small and bug cases and move back to the mid- and safe for the beetles. Twenty or thirty “splatters.” These small pieces of food west. Before I go however, I propose an can be easily placed in one bag. Females source are quickly located and buried, official name change for the road from are of great interest and would be safer if leaving only a tiny push-up as a clue to Hwy 190 towards Panamint Dunes to separated from the males. Collecting the beetles' presence. Cunningham Circle. Though not truly a data should be sent with your name, circle, it accurately represents the address and phone number so that I can Next time out, make a point of digging designs permanently etched into the ter- thank you and reimburse the postage. up these dirt push-ups, and you will rain by this editor’s futile searches. I The post office has free overnight prior- astound your companions with your col- understand from an aircraft that the ity boxes to put the paper bags in along lecting proficiency. You will then be able design is very similar to those found in with some crumpled-up newspaper. I to brag about yourself in the same fine the wheat fields of England. will have a FED EX number also. The tradition as the intelligentsia. boxes should be sent to: Dr. Sheldon On July 14, 1993 my family and I are Guttman, Department of Zoology, Thanks to Chuck Wirth, now “The Her- moving to Oxford, Ohio, home of Miami Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056. mit of St. David” (Arizona), for another University. There, I will begin life as a nice tip.

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