Diversity and Taxonomy of Scarabaeoidea

A special issue of Taxonomy (ISSN 2673-6500).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 460

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Interests: scarabaeoid beetles; taxonomy; systematics; palaeontology; evolution; zoological nomenclature; taxonomic history and practice; community ecology and biodiversity research; chemical ecology; natural history
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With around 35,000 described species, Scarabaeoidea is one of the largest beetle superfamilies, comprising diverse and popular groups such as dung beetles, stag beetles, June beetles, flower chafers, and rhinoceros beetles. Well represented in the fossil record, they are known to have existed since the Jurassic. They are coprophagous, necrophagous, phytophagous, saprophagous, and xylophagous, and a few are even carnivorous. Some species compete with humans for resources and are considered serious pests, such as the Japanese beetle and rhinoceros beetles that develop in palms; others are hugely beneficial, such as dung beetles, which improve soil quality and plant growth. With a high diversity of ecological requirements, worldwide distribution, and enormous species diversity, scarabaeoid beetles are a popular research target, spanning disciplines from chemical ecology to taxonomy and pest control.

This Special Issue will showcase these different aspects of scarabaeoid research, with a particular focus on taxonomy and all aspects of diversity.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Diversity.

Dr. Frank-Thorsten Krell
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Scarabaeoidea
  • beetle
  • species diversity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

42 pages, 12267 KiB  
Article
Four New Dung Beetle Species of the Genus Onthophagus Latreille from West Africa (Insecta: Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Onthophagini)
by Frank-Thorsten Krell, Tiffany M. Nuessle and Bridget N. Chalifour
Taxonomy 2025, 5(2), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy5020021 - 18 Apr 2025
Viewed by 299
Abstract
Four new dung beetle species of the genus Onthophagus Latreille from Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Bénin, and Cameroon are described, and a fragment of their COI gene is sequenced. The coprophagous Onthophagus (Trichonthophagus) sylviae sp. nov. from Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso is [...] Read more.
Four new dung beetle species of the genus Onthophagus Latreille from Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Bénin, and Cameroon are described, and a fragment of their COI gene is sequenced. The coprophagous Onthophagus (Trichonthophagus) sylviae sp. nov. from Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso is most similar to Onthophagus pallidus d’Orbigny from Cameroon, but it is more elongated, more silky than shiny, and has no dark spot on the third elytral interstria. Onthophagus odikpatra sp. nov. (18th group of d’Orbigny) from Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon feeds on carrion, including dead millipedes and fish, and dung. It is most similar to Onthophagus baloghi Balthasar from Central Africa but has simple punctures on the sides of the pronotum. Onthophagus chinonophilus sp. nov. from Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, which feeds on freshly dead millipedes and is attracted by their quinonous defensive secretions; it also belongs to the 18th group in d’Orbigny’s classification. Small and medium individuals resemble small Onthophagus latigibber d’Orbigny but differ in shape and sculpture of the pronotum. Small individuals are also similar to Onthophagus tschadensis Balthasar (19th group) but differ in the shape of the aedeagus. The generalist feeder Onthophagus (Tiaronthophagus) necneavius sp. nov. (24th group) from Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Bénin is most similar to Onthophagus naevius from Zambia, DR Congo, and Tanzania, but it is smaller, shiny all over; the sides of pronotum behind anterior angles are almost straight, not distinctly emarginate, and the frons is densely covered with fine punctures. COI barcode sequences were provided for all four new species, but the poor sampling of Onthophagus in GenBank prevents meaningful analysis of species relationships on the basis of COI barcodes at this point. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Taxonomy of Scarabaeoidea)
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