Monoplistes leai description

Dung
Beetles
of eastern NSW

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Monoplistes leai

Distribution
Northern New South Wales at Buladelah to the McPherson Range on the border of New South Wales and Queensland.

Description
Total length 4.5-5.5mm. Colour black.

Head: 2 or 4 small clypeal teeth. Surfaces shiny or alutaceous, with fine punctures in middle becoming very close along edges. Dorsal parts of eyes moderately narrow.
Prothorax: Surface shiny, densely punctate, punctures finer in middle of disc. Ventral part of pronotum with large elongated punctures posteriorly and a sharp fold close to and paralleling the lateral edge.
Elytra: Striae impunctate or with small punctures. Intervals minutely punctate, shiny or alutaceous.
Sterna: Mesosternum with coarse cicatrices on the sides, becoming smooth and indistinct in middle.
Legs: Inner edge of fore tibiae with a moderately prominent tubercle. Claws large, subdentate.

Sexual dimorphism
Female: No external differences other than the last abdominal sternite.

References
Matthews, E.G. (1974) A revision of the Scarabaeine dung beetles of Australia. II. Tribe Scarabaeini. Aust. J. Zool. Suppl. Ser. 24: 1-211.
Williams, G. A. & Williams, T. (1983b) A survey of the Aphodiinae, Hybosorinae and Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) from small wet forests of coastal New South Wales. Part 3: Buladelah to Taree. Vict. Nat. 100: 98-105.