<p><strong>Extralimital Dynastinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Australia</strong></p>

Abstract

The identification, origin, introduction, establishment, spread and pest status of extralimital (introduced, those that naturally occur within and outside Australia, and possibly introduced but of uncertain origin) dynastines in Australia and its territories are reviewed. We examine likely introduction pathways and the species’ life histories and attempt to draw out factors that predispose some species to establish, naturalise and then become invasive. Six categories of extralimital dynastines are identified: established and have spread widely (invasive)—Cyclocephala signaticollis Burmeister, 1847, Heteronychus arator (Fabricius, 1775); established but have not spread widely (sleepers)—Oryctes rhinoceros (Linnaeus, 1758), Oryctoderus latitarsus Boisduval, 1835 (possibly), Papuana woodlarkiana (Montrouzier, 1855) (possibly), Temnorhynchus retusus (Fabricius, 1781); known from one or only a few specimens that have arrived but not established—H. parumpunctatus Burmeister, 1847, Or. centaurus Sternberg, 1910, Pa. angusta Arrow, 1914, Pentodon algerinus algerinus (Fuessly, 1778); with distributions that extend from New Guinea into northeastern Australia—Pa. woodlarkiana (possibly), Od. latitarsus (possibly), Xylotrupes carinulus Rowland, 2011; whose records within Australia are doubtful—Dipelicus integriceps (Fairmaire, 1877), D. montrouzieri (Reiche, 1860), Or. nasicornis (Linnaeus, 1758), Pa. tibialis Arrow, 1941, Phyllognathus degener Fairmaire, 1891; species whose identity is unclear—Carne’s (1981) enigmatic species. Characters that make a species an ideal tramp species are: adults feed and are active for an extended period after emergence; larval development is relatively quick; adults and larvae are associated with potted plants and lawn grasses; the native distribution is in the Southern Hemisphere so that life cycles are synchronised between original and introduced localities. Shipping ballast and potted plants were the probable major pathways of introduction, but now rapid air and land transport provide the means for movement into and within Australia of hitchhiker species. Key words: Dynastinae, introductions, exotic species, pest species, quarantine, biosecurity

Pests of Australian dairy pastures: distribution, seasonality and potential impacts on pasture production

“…Our data are based on four snapshots at each paddock over 2 years which is unlikely to have fully captured the temporal variation in pests, or pests that have invaded Australia but not established in dairy regions (e.g. Allsopp & Hutchinson 2019). Sampling over only 2 years also restricted our ability to accurately survey sporadic pests, such as the armyworms, Mythimna convecta, Persectania ewingii and Persectania dyscrita, which are highly migratory and invade pastures in south-eastern Australia irregularly (Farrow & McDonald 1987;Hoffmann et al 2008).…”

“…Several introduced invertebrate species have also become major pests in Australia due to the absence of their natural controls or lack of established management control methods (Hoffmann et al 2008). The African black beetle (Heteronychus arator) was introduced into Australia around 100 years ago and has now spread to all mainland states (Beehag et al 2016;Allsopp & Hutchinson 2019). Both adults and larvae of H. arator damage pastoral systems, as adults chew the stems and larvae the roots of several grass species (Bell et al 2011;Frew et al 2016).…”

A new, but possibly extinct, species of Semanopterus Hope, 1847 from Lord Howe Island, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae)

“…Metanastes vulgivagus (Olliff, 1889) was originally described from Lord Howe and Sydney but is a widespread eastern Australian species, which is a pest of grasses (Cumpston 1940;Carne 1957) and, therefore, likely to have been accidentally introduced to Lord Howe Island with imported turf and garden materials. Similarly, Heteronychus arator (Fabricius, 1775) is a widespread pest of grasses in eastern Australia, but is an African species introduced to the Sydney or Newcastle area about 1920 (Allsopp & Hutchinson 2019) and first recorded in 1930 (Cumpston 1940). It is also likely to have been introduced to Lord Howe through human activity.…”