black beetle

• blackbeetle, black-beetle

black beetle (plural black beetles)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black,‎ beetle.
2. A black scarab beetle, later specifically the African black beetle (Heteronychus arator), a serious pest of grasses in New Zealand. [from 16th c.]
3. (UK) The oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis), a large roach from the family Blattidae. [from 18th c.]
   • 1921, DH Lawrence, Women in Love, Vintage 2008, p. 65:

     ‘I'm not afwaid of anything except black-beetles,’ said the Pussum […] .

4. (New Zealand) A similar roach native to New Zealand, of species Maoriblatta novaeseelandiae (syn. Platyzosteria novaeseelandia); the Maori bug. [from 19th c.]
5. Any of various other species of beetle that are black in color, including:
   1. An Asiatic rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros), a pest of palm trees in tropical Asia.
   2. A member of the European species Pterostichus nigrita (syn. Feronia nigrita).

• (Blatta orientalis): oriental cockroach, Oriental cockroach, oriental roach, waterbug
• (Maoriblatta novaeseelandiae): Maori bug

• Darwin's black beetle (Lissopterus quadrinotatus)
• African black beetle (Heteronychus arator)

• oriental beetle, Blitopertha orientalis (syn. Anomala orientalis)