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Revision of the Neotropical dung beetle genus Sulcophanaeus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) /
... This lateral pronotal carina is also present in one other New World species (Fig. 59). This species is the odd Sulcophanaeus carnifex (Linnaeus, 1758), which is endemic to the island of Jamaica (Edmonds 2000). In this case, this character might not be the result of homoplasy, but could rather support a relationship between the members of the genus Homocopris and at least S. carnifex in the genus Sulcophanaeus Olsoufieff, 1924 and tribe Phanaeini Hope, 1838. ...
... In their morphological phylogeny of Phanaeini, Philips et al. (2004) Edmonds (2000) suggested that the distribution of S. carnifex in Jamaica "is undoubtedly that of a relict of ancient South American origin". We agree with this statement, and we suggest that a putative close relationship between S. carnifex and Homocopris could be further supported by the following characters: a rather large body size, the presence of a large cephalic horn in well-developed males, a complete lack of metallic sheen, a short transverse ridge on the ventral surface of the clypeus, a metasternal median longitudinal sulcus (well-developed in Homocopris and vestigial in some individuals of Andinocopris gen. ...
Although initially described as a subgenus of Copris Geoffroy, 1762, Homocopris had long been treated as a junior synonym of Dichotomius Hope, 1838 (Martínez 1951) until it was reclassified as a distinct genus (Vaz-de-Mello et al. 2010). Herein, we revisit the taxonomy of Homocopris. In doing so: we describe two new species previously considered to represent the Brazilian population of Homocopris torulosus (Eschscholtz, 1822); revalidate Pinotus punctatissimus from synonymy under Homocopris torulosus and place it in Homocopris as had previously been done only informally (González et al. 2015; Rebolledo et al. 2017); recognize two new synonymies; and describe a new genus, Andinocopris gen. nov., which includes two former members of Homocopris. Presently, Homocopris includes four species: H. torulosus, H. punctatissimus (Curtis, 1845) comb. nov., H. grossiorum sp. nov. and H. williami sp. nov. Andinocopris includes A. achamas (Harold, 1867) gen. et comb. nov.
and A. buckleyi (Waterhouse, 1891) gen. et comb. nov. Pinotus simulator Luederwaldt, 1936 is here considered a new junior synonym of Andinocopris buckleyi. An identification key to members of both genera is provided as well as images of diagnostic characters for all species. Finally, we discuss the placement of Andinocopris and Homocopris within Scarabaeinae and propose a new tribe, Homocoprini tribe nov., to include both genera.
... The abundance of material available for study led, in turn, to a new character of the taxonomic revisions. If, before, little could be said about intraspecific variation, now work after work has been revealing how diverse the dung beetle species can be across their distribution, often showing complex patterns of population structure (e.g., Edmonds, 1994;Edmonds, 2000;Solıś and Kohlmann, 2002;Geńier and Kohlmann, 2003;Geńier, 2009;FIGURE 5 Species-group taxa, authors, and home countries across the taxonomic history of the New World Scarabaeinae. Like in Figure 5, countries are treated by their modern borders and names. ...
... 13 Schoolmeesters's (2022) list of species present in Chile contains a number of errors related both to species incorrectly assigned to the country and species erroneously omitted from it. Among the former are Sulcophanaeus imperator (Chevrolat, 1844) (actually endemic to Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina; Edmonds, 2000), Deltochilum variolosum Burmeister, 1873 (apparently restricted to the same countries as S. imperator), and Onthophagus ptox Erichson, 1847 (range still dubious, but certainly not encompassing Chile; Rossini et al., 2018a). The ones incorrectly omitted, in turn, are two introduced species, Onitis vanderkelleni Van Lansberge, 1886 and Digitonthophagus gazella, both of which are present in Chile only on the island of Rapa Nui (i.e., Easter Island) (Mondaca, 2023). ...
After almost two decades of stagnation, the taxonomy of the New World Scarabaeinae dung beetles has since 1988 been going through a period of great effervescence. In the last 35 years, 81 complete revisions and 69 supplements have been produced by 86 authors based in 15 countries, addressing the taxonomic status of 950 species. This is what we christen as the Taxonomic Revolution of New World dung beetles. We review the history and products of this revolution, explore its causes and its apparent exceptionalism among most other New World Coleoptera groups, and point to the many great challenges that still face the scarabaeine taxonomists. An aspect of interest to ecologists is the coevolution of the Taxonomic Revolution with what we call the Ecological Revolution of dung beetles, i.e., the similar expansion in ecological studies about these organisms. We argue that it has been the continuous feedback between these two simultaneous processes that has enabled each of them to exist and flourish: without the Ecological Revolution, the Taxonomic Revolution could not have existed, and vice-versa. Ecologists and taxonomists are partners in the scientific enterprise, symbionts one may say.
... El escarabajo coprófago afro-tropical, Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche, 1849) fue introducido en 1978 dentro del estado de California, Estados Unidos de América, con el fin de mejorar el procesamiento de heces bovinas en los pastizales (Wood y Kaufman 2008 (Nevinson, 1891). Estas últimas, fueron consideradas como especies distintas, no obstante su situación taxonómica no está completamente clara, a falta de estudios que respalden su sinonimia y vacíos de información sobre la distribución de ambas sub especies en Guatemala, Nicaragua y especialmente Honduras, donde se desconocía la presencia del género (Edmonds 2000). ...
... La determinación taxonómica fue realizada utilizando claves especializadas (Edmonds 2000 Hábitat: Matorral y Pastizal. ...
... Therefore, based on the phylogenies of Gillett and Toussaint (2020), we generated two additional trees where we inserted species we had measured but were not present in Gillett and Toussaint (2020). We added taxa along with the closest species according to taxonomic revisions and more specific phylogenies of each respective group: Oxysternon (Edmonds and Zídek 2004); Coprophanaeus (Edmonds and Zídek 2010); Sulcophanaeus (Edmonds 2000); The image on top shows the four body areas measured (clypeus, two points in the pronotum and elytron; Phanaeus palaeno). Diel activity was classified at the species level as either diurnal or non-diurnal. ...
Animal colouration may evolve due to its effects on predator avoidance, reproduction and thermoregulation, and is likely influenced by the organism’s diel activity. The dung beetle species of the Phanaeini tribe (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) show a wide variety of times of activity and pre-copulatory behaviours. Here we tested the effect of time of activity on body coloration and sexual dichromatism of Phanaeini beetles using a quantitative spectrophotometric method in a phylogenetic framework. Considering the potential functions of dung beetle colouration, we expected to find brighter, more colourful animals with a higher degree of sexual dichromatism in diurnal than in non-diurnal species. We measured the reflectance spectrum (300–700 nm) and calculated the brightness and chroma in four body areas for each individual (588 individuals of 51 species). We analysed the data in a Bayesian phylogenetic approach. The analyses indicated that diurnal species have higher chroma and brightness than non-diurnal ones. Furthermore, we found an evident sexual dimorphism in the clypeus of diurnal species: males have a colourful clypeus, whereas females have a dark non-colourful one. The condition of low light and variable light in nocturnal and crepuscular species may not favour the bright and colourful patterns or may have caused its loss. The presence of dichromatism in clypeus may be related to communication between conspecifics and different reproductive behaviours in Phanaeini. Thus, we demonstrate that diurnal species evolved more colourful bodies than non-diurnal species and that diurnal species exhibit sexual dichromatism in the clypeus, suggesting a role for sexual selection in the evolution of clypeal colouration.
Pasturelands are characterized as grasslands utilized for cattle raising and consist of natural or exotic vegetation, predominantly grasses. In the context of sustainable production, the biodiversity of insects within grazing environments holds significant value. Dung beetles play a crucial role in sustaining pasturelands as the burial of feces by these beetles fosters ecological services indispensable for maintaining a robust and healthy environment. Given that different dung beetle species contribute to distinct environmental benefits, a comprehensive understanding of the species present in pasturelands, their origins, and the ecological services they provide is imperative. This study endeavors to compile comprehensive information on dung beetle species native to South America, emphasizing taxonomic precision and a confirmed affinity for cattle dung. Our findings are derived from a synthesis of literature and observational data, incorporating location information obtained from taxonomic revisions and specimen labels of specimens housed at CEMT. In South America, a total of 57 dung beetle species are documented that inhabit grazing areas and actively feed on cattle manure. These areas span diverse biomes encompassing native and/or introduced grasslands, which may include deforested sections within forest biomes such as Chaco, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pampa, Atlantic Forest, Amazon Forest, Paramo, Puna, Llanos, and Patagonia. The preponderance of species identified fall within the paracoprid category, recognized as particularly vital for the sustainability of pasturelands. Despite their acknowledged importance, a noticeable knowledge gap impedes the effective conservation of these species. This gap is a focal point of discussion in this study, addressing the challenges and opportunities for enhancing conservation efforts. The species documented in this research exhibit notable economic and environmental relevance in the context of sustainable livestock production, emphasizing the urgency and significance of initiatives that prioritize their conservation.
Background
Dung beetles provide many important ecosystem services, including dung decomposition, pathogen control, soil aeration, and secondary seed dispersal. Yet, the biology of most dung beetles remains unknown. Natural diets are poorly studied, partly because previous research has focused on choice or attraction experiments using few, easily accessible dung types from zoo animals, farm animals, or humans. This way, many links within natural food webs have certainly been missed. In this work, we aimed to establish a protocol to analyze the natural diets of dung beetles using DNA gut barcoding.
Methods
First, the feasibility of gut-content DNA extraction and amplification of 12s rDNA from six different mammal dung types was tested in the laboratory. We then applied the method to beetles caught in pitfall traps in Ecuador and Germany by using 12s rDNA primers. For a subset of the dung beetles caught in the Ecuador sampling, we also used 16s rDNA primers to see if these would improve the number of species we could identify. We predicted the likelihood of amplifying DNA using gut fullness, DNA concentration, PCR primer, collection method, and beetle species as predictor variables in a dominance analysis. Based on the gut barcodes, we generated a dung beetle-mammal network for both field sites (Ecuador and Germany) and analyzed the levels of network specificity.
Results
We successfully amplified mammal DNA from dung beetle gut contents for 128 specimens, which included such prominent species as Panthera onca (jaguar) and Puma concolor (puma). The overall success rate of DNA amplification was 53%. The best predictors for amplification success were gut fullness and DNA concentration, suggesting the success rate can be increased by focusing on beetles with a full gut. The mammal dung–dung beetle networks differed from purely random network models and showed a moderate degree of network specialization ( H 2 ′: Ecuador = 0.49; Germany = 0.41).
Conclusion
We here present a reliable method of extracting and amplifying gut-content DNA from dung beetles. Identifying mammal dung via DNA reference libraries, we created mammal dung-dung beetle trophic networks. This has benefits over previous methods because we inventoried the natural mammal dung resources of dung beetles instead of using artificial mammal baits. Our results revealed higher levels of specialization than expected and more rodent DNA than expected in Germany, suggesting that the presented method provides more detailed insights into mammal dung–dung beetle networks. In addition, the method could have applications for mammal monitoring in many ecosystems.
Aunque existe abundante información sobre los efectos nocivos de la fragmentación, muchos interrogantes persisten sobre el efecto del tamaño de los relictos de bosque sobre la fauna. Con el objetivo de evaluar el efecto de este factor sobre la diversidad, riqueza, biomasa y composición del ensamble de escarabajos coprófagos, se realizaron muestreos con trampas de caída cebadas con excremento humano en seis fragmentos de bosque con tamaños entre 13 y 231 ha en un paisaje andino. El relicto de bosque más grande mostró mayor biomasa y diversidad de escarabajos, mientras la abundancia fue mayor en fragmentos de tamaño intermedio. La abundancia de diez especies de las 39 observadas se correlacionó con el tamaño del fragmento y los grupos más sensibles según la biomasa son los escarabajos más pesados, mayores a 0,5 gramos de peso seco, y los de peso intermedio, entre 0,031 a 0,12 gr. Las dos especies de escarabajos más pesadas Oxysternon conspicillatum y Deltochilum gibossum aportan el 31% de la biomasa de los escarabajos y son afectadas por la reducción del fragmento de bosque lo que podría tener consecuencias negativas en las funciones ecológicas que desempeñan este grupo de insectos. Los índices de similitud muestran que todos los fragmentos contribuyen a la biodiversidad regional y cada uno alberga un ensamble distinto, lo que demuestra que la matriz de pasturas y rastrojos es una barrera difícil para la mayoría de las especies.
Previously overlooked literature now brought to my attention has resulted in the following nomenclatural conclusions: 1) The species known since 2013 as Gromphas inermis Harold, 1869 must be called G. lacordairii (Oken, 1834), whose original combination was Coprobius lacordairii. Gromphas inermis is a new junior subjective synonym of G. lacordairii; 2) Gromphas was made available by Dejean, in 1836, not Brullé, in 1837; the former, therefore, should be credited with the authorship; and 3) the type species of Gromphas is Coprobius lacordairii Oken, 1834 by original monotypy, not Onitis aerugionosus Perty, 1830 by subsequent monotypy. Also discussed is the publication year of G. jardim Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello, 2015. This leads me to address the problem of zoological works first published in electronic-only versions with their own pagination and which are later reissued integrated into a journal’s volume and repaginated. It is here argued that these two versions – the detached and the volume-integrated ones – should be deemed separate available works, and that new nomenclatural acts can be made available from detached versions. If this is accepted, the later publication of the volume-integrated versions has no bearing on the availability of the earlier detached versions. I also introduce new data on the type series of Onitis aeruginosus (currently, Gromphas aerugionosa) and G. inermis, new specimens of the rare G. jardim, mislabelled specimens of G. amazonica Bates, 1870, and newly discovered specimens of the vanished G. dichroa Blanchard, 1846. The latter include the new record from Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The disappearance of G. dichroa since 1954, including
the possibility that it might be extinct, is discussed.
The Pantanal is the largest seasonal freshwater wetland on Earth, characterized by the seasonal flooding and complex mosaic vegetation, which determines its biodiversity. Among this biodiversity, dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) are a group of insects that perform important ecological functions, such as: nutrient cycling, seed dispersion and parasite control. In order to mitigate the lack of information on dung beetle fauna of the Brazilian Pantanal, we conducted a bibliographic search of virtually all literature published until november-2020 on dung beetles sampled in the Pantanal. In addition, we had accessed to the records the largest collection of the dung beetle species from Brazilian Pantanal. We recorded 68 dung beetle species of 30 genera. The genera Canthon Holffmanseg 1847 is the most diverse with 13 species recorded. Although our knowledge about the dung beetle fauna in this ecosystem is still incipient, our results demonstrated a high richness of dung beetles in the Brazilian Pantanal. In addition, our study provides first list of dung beetle species and an illustrated dichotomy key to identify genera and some species occurring in the Brazilian Pantanal. Thus, the use of this guide for identification of dung beetle species and a list of species can be important tools to help researchers and provide incentive for new inventories on dung beetle fauna in the Brazilian Pantanal.
The Amazon Forest is one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and yet its protected areas are understudied concerning insects and other invertebrates. These organisms are essential for tropical forests due to their ecological processes, with some species being very sensitive to habitat disturbances. Dung beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) have been used as bioindicators for more than 30 years and were surveyed to assess the insect biodiversity of two sustainable-use forest reserves in the Brazilian Amazon.
We report inventories of dung beetles from two Amazonian forest reserves in Pará State, Brazil: the Tapajós National Forest and the Carajás National Forest. Surveys were carried out with baited-pitfall traps installed in 2010, 2016, 2017 and 2019. We collected a total of 3,772 individuals from 19 genera and 96 species. We highlight the importance of Amazonian protected areas as refugia for insect biodiversity, particularly dung beetles, which contribute to many key ecosystem processes.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.