Gymnopleurini

Gymnopleurini
Garreta unicolor on a ball of rhinoceros dung
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Scarabaeiformia
Family: Scarabaeidae
Subfamily: Scarabaeinae
Tribe: Gymnopleurini
Lacordaire, 1856

Gymnopleurini is a tribe of scarab beetles, in the dung beetle subfamily (Scarabaeinae),[1] but it may now be combined with the Scarabaeini.[2] The side edge of each elytron (hardened fore-wing protecting the hind-wing) has a characteristic shape that exposed the underlying pleural sclerites (side plates of the abdomen). Relative to other dung beetles they are of moderate size (10–18 mm long).[1]

Ecology

All species fly during the day (diurnal). They are probably all ball-rollers: a ball is fashioned from the dung, and rolled away from it, either by a single beetle or a pair of beetles. A short tunnel is dug in the soil, and the ball is buried at the end of it. After reworking the ball, the female lays an egg in a depression in the ball, and covers it with dung. The brood is then abandoned; after hatching, larvae feed on the dung ball.[1]

Taxonomy

There are four genera in this tribe:

References

  1. ^ a b c Scholtz, Clarke H.; Davis, Adrian L. V.; Kryger, Ute (2009). Evolutionary biology and conservation of dung beetles. Sofia-Moscow: Pensoft Pub. ISBN 978-954-642-517-1.
  2. ^ Biolib.cz: tribus Scarabaeini Latreille, 1802 (retrieved 23 August 2021)


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