''Blaps polychresta'', commonly known as the Egyptian beetle, South African beetle or cellar beetle, is a species of beetle in the family

Tenebrionidae Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles ...

. This species is a popular

pet A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...

and can live up to 4-5 years. Although this species is introduced to Australia and America, it is not considered a pest, and is rather commonly found in chicken coops where the chickens feast on this species.

Taxonomy

''Blaps polychresta'' has one junior synonym, ''Blaps sulcata''. (

Fabricius Fabricius (, ) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *people from the Ancient Roman Fabricia gens, gens Fabricia: **Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the first of the Fabricii to move to Rome * Johann Goldsmid (1587–1616), known by his ...

, 1775, not to be confused with Laporte de Castelnau, 1980)

Distribution

The species is found naturally across from Syria to Egypt, but has also been introduced to Australia, particularly Southern Australia and Western Victoria via

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Clipper ship A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century Merchant ship, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were gen ...

s carrying grain, and to

Northern America Northern America is the northernmost subregion of North America, as well as the northernmost region in the Americas. The boundaries may be drawn significantly differently depending on the source of the definition. In one definition, it lies dir ...

Diet and ecology

This species is a herbivore, feeding on residue and organic waste of animals such as rodents and birds. '' Cystocephalus algerianus'' infects the males with a rate of 1 in 105 specimens.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q19532622 Tenebrionidae Pets Beetles described in 1775