Ataenius platensis is a species of aphodiine dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, Central America, North America, and South America.
Description Adults reach a length of about . They have an elongate-oblong, shining, light brown, reddish brown to piceous body, with the legs usually reddish.
Distribution Nearctic: United States (California, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas). Neotropical: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Bahia, Distrito Federal, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz), Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela. West Indies: Guadeloupe.
Life history It is found in various habitats from sea level to about 1000 meters, where it has been collected from forest litter and cattle dung.
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