''Phoberus ngomensis'' is a species of

hide beetle Trogidae, sometimes called hide beetles, is a family of beetles with a distinctive warty or bumpy appearance. Found worldwide, the family includes about 300 species contained in four or five genera. Trogids range in length from 2 to 20 mm. Thei ...

in the subfamily

Troginae ''Troginae'' is a subfamily of beetles in the family Trogidae which includes extant species and extinct beetle species from the Lower Cretaceous. The subfamily contains the following genera: * Glyptotrox Nikolajev, 2016 *Paratrox ''Paratrox ...

discovered by the scientists van de Merwe and

Scholtz Scholtz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * A.H.M. Scholtz, South African writer in Afrikaans, wrote his first and award-winning novel at the age of 72 *Andrew Henry Martin Scholtz (1923–2004), South African writer *Bernard S ...

in 2005. Like with many other beetle species, ''P. ngomensis'' has not been observed again after its discovery, so all knowledge of the species comes from the 166 individual beetles van de Merwe and Scholtz saw during fieldwork.

Taxonomy

Taxonomically, ''P. ngomensis'' was initially placed in the subgenus ''Trox (Phoberus)''; when ''Phoberus'' was recognized as a full genus, taxonomists moved ''P. ngomensis'' from the genus ''Trox'' to the genus ''Phoberus''. Within the genus ''Phoberus'', ''P. ngomensis'' is most similar to ''P. sternbergi''; in fact, females of the two species are almost completely identical, and only the shape of the hide beetles' male genitalia can reliably distinguish the two species. Specifically, in ''P. ngomensis'', the anterior edges of the male genitalia's median lobe are U-shaped, while in ''P. sternbergi'', the anterior edges of male genitalia's median lobe are M-shaped. Furthermore, the

parameres Parameres ('side parts') are part of the external reproductive organs of male insects and the term was first used by Verhoeff in 1893 for the lateral genital lobes in Coleoptera. The primary phallic lobes which appear in the nymph or larval stag ...

of ''P. ngomensis'' are shorter relative to their penis-like

aedeagus An aedeagus ( or aedeagi) is a reproductive organ of male arthropods through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation (zoology), copulation with a female. It can be thought of as the insect equivalent of a mammal's penis, th ...

than those of ''P. sternbergi''; ''P. ngomensiss parameres are one-fourth their aedeagus' length, while the parameres of ''P. ngomensis'' are one-third that length.

Morphology

''Phoberus ngomensis'' is between 5.5 and 6.5 millimeters long and 3.0 and 3.5 millimeters wide. The

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

, or forewings, of the beetle have flattened sides and are fringed laterally with short hair-like

setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae ...

. Like other hide beetles, this species' elytra are covered under hard carapaces; ''P. ngomensiss exoskeleton shell on the abdomen is dark red and bumpy, with irregular clumps of light, bright orange setae tufts protruding almost like spikes from the carapace. These spikes measure under half a millimeter in height. This hide beetle species' exoskeleton on the head and

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

is a dark leather-black. Setae on the head and pronotum are a darker shade of orange. ''P. ngomensis'' has a triangular

clypeus The clypeus is one of the sclerites that make up the face of an arthropod. In insects, the clypeus delimits the lower margin of the face, with the labrum articulated along the ventral margin of the clypeus. The mandibles bracket the labrum, but ...

, which refers to the shape of the exoskeleton plate covering its head. The beetles' heads also finish at a pointed apex.

Distribution and Diet

''P. ngomensis'' lives in dense, high-altitude forests within the South African province of

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

. It is found year-round between 1000 meters and 1140 meters above sea level. A ground-based beetle, pitfall traps are most effective in capturing specimen.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q111249656 ngomensis Beetles described in 2005