to the surface; turning head downwards, and with the tip of the wing
covers slightly raised, they draw in a supply of air which occupies a
cavity on the back, and when the elytra are closed down, the beetle can
remain under water until the supply is exhausted. Many species can be
easily captured in the water with a small hand-net; on a warm summer
night numbers leave the water and come flying in to the lighted lamps.
Many are very small, few over ½ an inch in length; they are quite as
numerous in the colder waters of the globe as in the tropics, and many
species have a very wide distribution.
We have representatives of most of the typical genera; our species have
been described by Clark (Journal of Entomology 1862), and Sharp (Trans.
Dublin Soc. 1882).
The members of the Genus _Bidessus_ are small, brown, boat-shaped
beetles not much over ½ an inch in length; about 18 species are
listed in Masters’ Catalogue; _Bidessus bistrigatus_ has the head
marked with black and the wing covers clouded with dark brown; it
has a wide range over Australia. _Antiphorus gilberti_ is more than
twice the size, has the wing covers mottled, and is common in the
waters of Victoria and South Australia. _Macroporus howetti_ is dark
brown, more shining and slightly larger, the dark markings forming
two irregular black bands connected by a dorsal stripe. _Hydroporus
collaris_, from the north-west coast of Australia, measures under 2
lines in length; it is all black with the dorsal surface convex and
finely rugose. _Platynectis 10-punctata_ was described by Fabricius
at a very early date from Australia; it is common along the edges of
the Murray lagoons, where it is to be found in the soft mud under the
water-weeds. It is a smooth, shining black beetle, with very convex
wing covers. _Rhantus pubescens_ is an oval beetle, under ½ an inch
in length, of a dull brown colour, with the whole of the wing covers
granulated with black. _Colymbetes lanceolatus_ is a more elongate
insect of a similar brown colour, the back of the head and wing covers
marked with irregular parallel black lines, thickest in the middle.
_Copelatus acuductus_ is a larger shining black beetle, typical of the
genus, of which about twenty species are described from this country.
_Cybister tripunctatus_ is one of our largest species; it measures over
1 inch, and is broad and flattened in proportion; it is of a blackish
or dark olive colour, margined right round from the front of the head
to the tips of the wing covers with a dull yellow stripe. As children
we often pulled these beetles out of the water hanging on to the bait
used for catching crayfish, and we called them “clocks,” why I do not
know. This species has a very wide range over Australia, and it is
recorded from Lord Howe Island. It was once known under the name of
_C. gayndahensis_. A second species has been described by Blackburn
under the name of _C. granulatus_ from the Northern Territory of South
Australia. _Eretes australis_ is another widely distributed species; it
measures about ½ an inch; is broad and flattened, and is of a general
yellowish brown tint, marked with black between the eyes, and the wing
covers are finely punctured with close black spots.
Family 4. Whirligig Beetles.
GYRINIDAE.
This family, small in number of species, is well known to all lovers of
Nature, for it contains the water beetles that float about in shoals on
the margin of any quiet stream or waterhole, or dart about like bits of
silver, twisting and turning round in most remarkable gyrations, from
which they take the popular name of Whirligig Beetles.
They are distinguished from the last family (which they resemble in the
earlier stages of their development) in having very short antennae;
the fore-legs much longer than the two hind pairs; and in having the
eyes on either side divided, thus having two eyes looking down into the
water and two above, so that they can see both sides at the same time,
an admirable adaptation of vision for beetles living so much on the
surface of the water and liable to be attacked from above or below. The
tip of the body is not covered by the elytra, and when diving downward
they carry a bubble of air attached to the extremity. These beetles
are well represented in Australia, and have been described by Clark
previously mentioned, Regimbart (Annals Soc. Ent. France 1882), Macleay
(Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and Boisduval in the “Entomology of the
voyage de l’Astrolabe.” Our common species about Sydney, _Macrogyrus
canaliculatus_, is of the usual boat-shaped form, silvery black, with
the wing covers finely striated; it measures about ½ an inch in length.
_M. oblongus_ is a somewhat smaller species not so broad in form; is
browner, and the wing covers are very slightly striated; it is also
found in the vicinity of Sydney. _M. paradoxus_ was described and
figured by Regimbart from Australia with no exact locality, but I have
collected it on the North West coast of Australia, and seen others from
Southern Queensland, so that it has a wide range. It is not much over ¼
of an inch in length; is dark olive; the outer margin is dull yellow,
and it has a few fine striae on either side of the elytra. I have
found the pupae of one species, probably _M. oblongus_, in clay cells
attached to a bit of board on the bank of a waterhole in the western
country of N.S. Wales.
Family 5. Clubbed-horned Water Beetles.
HYDROPHILIDAE.
This family is also known under the Group _Palpicorna_ in reference to
the clubbed antennae, and made to include a second family, which are
very closely allied but are terrestial in their habits.
These beetles have five jointed tarsi; short clubbed antennae, with the
palpi slender and much longer than the antennae. Most of the beetles
are vegetarian in their diet, though many of them in the earlier stages
of their existence are carnivorous.
These are the largest of the Water Beetles; and the typical species
are ovate and very convex in form; the thorax very broad; the tibiae
slightly spined on the edges, terminating in a stouter spine at the
apex; the tarsi ciliated. They are poor swimmers when compared with the
two last groups.
Most of our species have been described by Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc.
N.S.W. 1871), and Blackburn (Pro. Linn. Soc. 1888). _Hydrophilus
latipalpus_ is of the usual boat-shaped form; shining black; and the
wing covers are very finely marked with punctured parallel striae. It
measures nearly 1½ inches, and is found about Sydney. _H. albipes_ is
a much smaller beetle of similar form and colour; it is found in the
Murray River districts.
Family 6. Rove Beetles.
STAPHYLINIDAE.
These peculiar beetles can be readily distinguished from most of the
other families by their abbreviated elytra, which do not protect more
than a third of the abdomen leaving the hind portion quite bare; while
the well developed hind wings are tucked away out of sight under them,
but can be quickly extended and used for flight. The apical segments
of the abdomen are very flexible, and most species have the habit
of turning up the tip of the body when running along; others have
the power of discharging a strong scent, in some cases with quite a
pleasant odour.
They are slender elongate insects with stout jaws, and the antennae
thickened or clubbed at the extremities; the tarsal joints are variable
in number. Rove Beetles are found in many different situations, but
chiefly upon the ground in the vicinity of manure, decaying vegetable
matter, dead animals, and even on the seashore hiding under stones and
seaweed, though most of them only seek these places to devour other
small creatures, for they are carnivorous in their habits. Some of the
foreign species are found living in the nests of ants, but I do not
think any with this peculiarity have been recorded from Australia.
The principal writers on our Staphylinidae are Macleay (Trans. Ent.
Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and Fauvel in his work on “Les Staphylinides de
l’Australie et de la Polynesie” (1878). In 1886 Olliff commenced his
revision of the Staphylinidae of Australia (Proc. Linn. Soc.), but this
only ran into the third part and was never finished. Others have been
described by Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A. 1887). About 400 species
have been recorded from this country representing most of the typical
sub-families.
The Genus _Aleochara_ contains a number of small short black beetles
with thickened antennae; those in _Homalota_ are even smaller but more
slender; several species are found under cowdung.
_Quedius luridipennis_ measures over ⅓ of an inch in length; the
shining black head and thorax are almost globular, the latter the
larger; the broad flattened fore wings are red; the margins of the
abdomen are flanged and slightly spined, and the tip fringed with three
tufts of bristles.
The Devil’s Coach-horse, _Creophilus erythrocephalus_, is our largest
common species and has a very wide range; it measures over ¾ of an inch
in length and is very broad in proportion; its general colour is black
with the head bright red, the eyes and a rounded spot between them
black; the elytra have a metallic purple tint. It can be often found in
stables, or hunting round dead animals in the bush; when disturbed it
cocks up its head, turning up the tip of its body at the same time in a
very comical manner, from which habit the allied European species has
probably derived the above popular name.
_Actinus macleayi_ is slightly longer but more slender, and is our
most beautiful species of this somewhat dull coloured family; the
head and thorax are rich metallic coppery green, the elytra deep
metallic purple; the basal portion of the abdomen is black, and the
tip, antennae, and legs bright yellow. It is a native of the tropical
scrubs of North Queensland; in the neighbourhood of Cairns I captured
specimens in tins I had baited with bits of meat and had sunk in the
ground to trap Carabidae, and into which they had been attracted by the
food.
_Xantholinus erythrocephalus_ lives in the stems of rotting grass
trees, where the beetles can be collected in all stages of development;
the beetle measures over ½ an inch in length; is of a much more
elongate form; black; the elytra dull red, and the tip of the abdomen
yellow.
_Paederus cruenticollis_ is one of our commonest species, and is
often found under stones in the bush; it is a very distinctly marked
little beetle about ¼ of an inch in length, slender in form with long
thickened antennae; black, with the thorax and centre of the abdomen
red, and the elytra deep metallic blue.
_Sartellus signatus_ is a curious little yellow beetle quite unlike the
typical Rove Beetle; it is short and rounded in form, with the fore
wings much longer than usual; is of a uniform light yellow colour,
with a curious reddish brown mark in the centre of each elytron. It
is common on our sandy beaches, where it hides under the seaweed and
rubbish and feeds chiefly upon dead barnacles.
Family 7. Ant Beetles.
PSELAPHIDAE
This group includes a number of small beetles that have the elytra
usually not covering more than half of the abdominal segments; the
antennae thickened toward the tips; maxillary palpi large, and the
tarsi three jointed. The ordinary collector is very apt to pass over
these small creatures, but many interesting forms are found in this
country by sifting rubbish, or examining debris along the water’s edge,
which can be gathered up in a stout bag and afterwards shaken over a
sheet of white paper. I have captured them along the edges of lagoons
in summer time by pouring buckets of water over the dry cracked mud,
and as they were drowned out gathering them into small tubes. They can
also be taken with a sweeping net when on the wing; in Europe many
species are found in ants’ nests. Westwood believes that they feed
chiefly upon _Acari_ and other small creatures.
Large numbers have been described from this country, chiefly through
the researches of the Rev. R. L. King (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1865).
Messrs. Sharp, Westwood, Schaufers and Blackburn added to this number;
while in 1900 Raffray published his Monograph on the family (Pro. Linn.
Soc. N.S.W. 1900), in which he described 45 new species, and brings the
number known up to 200.
_Pselaphus lineatus_, a reddish beetle, measures 1½ lines in length,
and is found about Sydney; it has a wide range over N.S. Wales,
Victoria, and South Australia.
Lea (Pro. Royal Soc. Victoria 1905) records four species of the Genus
_Articerus_ found in ants’ nests, all of which appear to have a wide
range; _A. curvicornis_, originally described by Westwood from ants’
nests in Melbourne, is also found in Tasmania, S. Australia and N.S.
Wales.
Family 8. Comb-horned Beetles.
PAUSSIDAE.
These are remarkable looking beetles, easily distinguished by their
broad flattened toothed antennae curving round on either side. The
head is short and angular on the sides; the thorax flattened; and the
elongate elytra truncate at the apex and not quite covering the tip of
the abdomen. Most of the species are of moderate size, and reddish
brown in colour; they are confined chiefly to Africa, the East Indies,
and Australia. Most of the African species are said to dwell in ants’
nests, but though I have had several records of species being found
under stones in ants’ nests, most of ours are found under logs, bark,
or crawling about on the grass or ground. This family attracted the
notice of entomologists at a very early date; Latreille formed the
family to contain the two genera _Paussus_ and _Cerapterus_, which he
called _Paussili_, afterwards changed by Leach to _Paussides_. Donovan
described the first species from this country in 1815. Westwood has
written a great deal about them; he monographed the family (Proc.
Linn. Soc. 1849–1850); in his “Arcana Entomologica” he described a
great many from Australia and other countries; others in the “Annals
of Natural History,” 1851; and again figured others in his “Theosaurus
Entomologica,” Oxen. 1874. Macleay added 32 new species (Trans. Ent.
Soc. N.S.W. 1873), all belonging to the Genus _Arthropterus_; while
Blackburn placed 3 more to the list 1891–1892, one of them in the
typical Genus _Paussus_.
_Arthropterus brevis_ is one of our smallest species; it measures
slightly over ¼ of an inch in length; the antennae are rather short and
broad; the thorax broad and rounded on the sides; the elytra expanded
slightly to the truncate tips, leaving the apical portion of the
abdomen exposed. This is our commonest species, and can be sometimes
obtained in numbers near Sydney under the papery bark of the ti-trees.
_A. humeralis_ comes from the Wellington district, and measures under
¾ of an inch; the antennae are large; the head angular; the body
long, narrow, and rounded to the extremity, with the elytra short and
truncate above the tip of the abdomen. General colour dark reddish
brown, lightly clothed with short scattered brown hairs.
Family 9. Ant Beetles.
SCYDMAENIDAE.
The members of this family are minute creatures of which little is
known. Sharp says: “Allied to the _Silphidae_, with the hind coxae
separated, and the facets of the eyes coarser; tarsi five jointed; the
number of abdominal segments visible six.”
It is owing to the Rev. R. L. King that we first knew anything about
this group in Australia; he described about 15 species (Trans. Ent.
Soc. N.S.W. 1864); to which 2 more have been added by Macleay and Sharp.
_Heterognathus carinatus_ was described by King from the nest of small
black ants found in the neighbourhood of Parramatta; Lea has lately
recorded it from the nests of ants (_Iridomyrmex nitidus_) taken in
the Mallee country of North Western Victoria. He says: “It can be
distinguished from all its congeners by the prothorax having a short
longitudinal carina at the base, on each side of which is a transverse
impression.”
Family 10. Burying Beetles.
SILPHIDAE.
The typical European species are popularly known as Burying Beetles
from the curious habit they have of excavating the ground beneath any
small dead bird or animal they find, and finally burying it under
the soil. This family contains a number of interesting beetles both
large and small; the antennae are thickened or clubbed; the tarsi 4
or 5 jointed; and the whole dorsal surface flattened. They are poorly
represented in this country, but there are several large distinctive
species found about dead animals or decaying vegetable matter. A large
number of blind Silphids are found in the caves of Europe and America,
but I have never found any as Australian cave fauna.
Thirteen species have been described from this country by a number of
different writers, chief of which is Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S.A.
1891–94).
_Necrodes osculans_ comes from Queensland; I found it common about
Cairns, feeding amongst decaying matter in the scrub. It measures over
1 inch; is a broad flattened beetle of a general black colour; the
elytra mottled with dull orange, ribbed, and truncate at the extremity,
showing the tip of the abdomen. The head is small, turned down in
front, but furnished with large clubbed antennae; the thorax is finely
punctured and rounded in front.
_Ptomaphila lachrymosa_ is a dull reddish brown beetle, with the centre
of the head and thorax black, the head small and somewhat hidden by
the large flattened thorax; the elytra round, somewhat depressed; both
marked with irregular parallel black ribs and bosses; they feed about
dead animals. Length about 1 inch.
In the following family, TRICHOPTERYGIDAE, only two species are
described, one from Tasmania, and the other from West Australia.
They are minute beetles with fringed wings, the middle joints of the
antennae smallest.
Family 11. Round Fungus Beetles.
SCAPHIDIDAE.
The members of this family are small, broad, short insects that live
in fungus, and are very active. Macleay described several species from
Gayndah (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871): Reitter and other foreign
writers have added to the list.
_Scaphidium punctipenne_, though described from Queensland, is also
found in the neighbourhood of Sydney. It is a small rounded seed-shaped
insect, but with slender legs and slightly clubbed antennae; its upper
surface is deep orange yellow irregularly barred with black.
Family 12. Mimic Beetles.
HISTERIDAE.
When touched these beetles contract their legs and pretend to be dead,
from which habit they take their family name from _Histris_, the
Latin for a stage mimic. They are shining black, or metallic coloured
beetles; many are flattened and broad in shape, with the elytra
truncate at the apex, leaving the tip of the abdomen uncovered; the
exposed integument is however very much thickened, and all the parts
fit close together; the antennae are thick, clubbed at the apex; the
legs short and stout. Most of the flattened forms are found under bark,
others in or under dead animal matter; both the beetles and their
larvae are carnivorous.
This family is well represented here: Macleay described some from
Gayndah; Marseul described others in the Annals Museo Genevre 1879, and
the Annals Ent. Belg. 1870; Schmidt in the Ent. Nachr. 1892; and a few
are described by other writers.
_Hololepta sidnensis_, one of our commonest species, can be collected
in early summer by chopping up the dead grass tree stems; but I have
never been able to find the larvae. It measures ½ an inch, and is
shining black; it is very much flattened and broad in proportion to
its length; two stout horns project in front of the eyes, coming
together at the tips; the thorax is slightly impressed in the centre,
and punctured on the sides; the elytra is smooth and shining, but the
exposed abdominal plates are spotted with large punctures. Many of this
genus are found under bark or crawling about on tree trunks.
_Platysoma strongulatum_ is a broadly flattened black insect about ⅙ of
an inch long; the head is small; the thorax truncate; the elytra smooth
in the centre, with four distinct striae on each side, straight at the
apex, with the tip of the abdomen turning downwards. This is another
common Sydney species found at the base of the flower stalks of the
“grass trees” (_Xanthorrhoea_).
_Saprinus laetus_, typical of another group, is a short, thickset,
rounded, oval beetle, ¼ of an inch in length, with the upper surface
convex; the head is small, shining green; the thorax broad, bright
metallic pale copper; and the short truncate elytra and exposed tip
of the abdomen deep metallic green. This almost seed-shaped beetle is
usually found under dead birds or animals lying in the bush. It has a
very wide range over Australia.
Family 13.
PHALACRIDAE.
Only one species of this family is listed in Masters’ Catalogue,
described by Erichson from Tasmania in 1842; but in Blackburn’s paper
(Trans. Royal Soc. S. Australia 1891) 16 new species are described
from all parts of Australia. They are short oval beetles, very small,
the largest not much over ¹⁄₁₂ of an inch in length; black or brown in
colour.
_Litochrus palmerstoni_ is of a uniform ferruginous colour, with the
apex of the elytra pale testaceous; without the punctures of the other
species; of the typical oval form; and only ⅘ of a line in length and
¹⁄₂₄ of an inch in width. This tiny creature comes from the Northern
Territory of S. Australia.
This family is not an important one, but is well represented in Europe
and America, where the larvae live in flowers, boring their way down
the stems and pupating in earthen cocoons.
Family 14. Fruit Beetles.
NITIDULIDAE.
These are all small black or brownish beetles that breed and feed upon
decaying vegetable matter, and some are very partial to ripe fruit.
Some have well developed wing covers, but in others these are very
short, reminding one of the smaller Rove Beetles, but the club of
each antennae consists of three joints, and fewer abdominal segments
are exposed to view. About eighty species have been described from
Australia, chiefly by Reitter (Verh. Ver. Brünn, 1874–75, and other
Journals); Murray in his Monograph of the Family; Macleay (Trans. Ent.
Soc. N.S.W. 1871); and Blackburn (Trans. Royal Soc. S. Australia 1891).
_Brachypeplus binotatus_ is one of our commonest species, widely
distributed over Australia; it is a typical form of the family, about
⅕ of an inch in length; of a general dark brown colour, with reddish
brown antennae and legs; the abbreviated wing covers leaving the
abdominal segments exposed, the latter marked with deep orange yellow.
Olliff (Agricultural Gazette N.S. Wales 1893) describes and figures
this beetle and its larva, which he describes as feeding upon the
fungus on the damaged sugar cane.
[Illustration: =Fig. 62.=--_Pochadius pilistriatus_
(Macleay).
Living in the seed pods of the Kurrajong.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
The Genus _Carpophilus_ contains 11 described species, most of which
have a wide range over Australia; two are well known about Sydney
from their habit of crawling into damaged fruit and feeding round the
stone, causing it to decay very rapidly; they are also said to cluster
round the fruit stalks, and by gnawing the base cause the fruit to
drop. _Carpophilus pilipennis_ is a small reddish brown boat-shaped
beetle, with the wing covers cut off at the hind margin, exposing the
tip of the abdomen; it measures 1½ lines in length. _C. aterrimus_ is
a somewhat larger flatter species of a uniform black colour, with the
whole of the upper surface finely punctured; the legs and antennae are
reddish brown. The abdomen is not so pointed as in the first species
and much more of it is exposed on the dorsal surface. A curious little
species, _Pocadius pilistriatus_, about ⅙ of an inch in length, is an
elongate rounded brown beetle clothed with fine hairs. It feeds and
breeds in the seed cases of the Kurrajong; the larvae are reddish brown
grubs, elongate in form; they have three jointed antennae, and short
black jaws, with well developed legs, and the tip of the abdomen bears
two pairs of spines, the first pair erect, the second at the extremity
but turning upwards.
Family 15.