Revision of the taxonomy and distribution of the Neotropical Copris incertus species complex (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

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Abstract

Copris incertus Say, 1835 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Coprini) has been described as a New World coprophagous scarab distributed from Mexico to Ecuador with large discontinuities in its range between the Yucatán province and Costa Rica. The C. incertus species complex of the Copris minutus (Drury, 1773) species group consists of C. incertus, Copris laeviceps Harold, 1869, and Copris lugubris Boheman, 1858. Based on external morphology and male genitalia, we discovered that multiple species have been classified as C. incertus. Of these species, five are new: Copris amazonicus new species, Copris brevicornis new species, Copris davidi new species, Copris moroni new species, and Copris susanae new species. Herein, we revise the organisation of the C. incertus species complex and propose a new species complex, the C. laeviceps species complex, which includes: C. davidi, Copris igualensis Warner, 1990, and C. laeviceps, formerly included in the C. incertus species complex. We provide an identification key along with species distribution maps, images of habitus, and diagnostic characters.

Résumé

Copris incertus Say, 1835 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Coprini) a été décrit comme scarabée coprophage du Nouveau Monde distribué du Mexique à l’Équateur avec de grandes discontinuités dans son aire de répartition comprise entre la province du Yucatán et le Costa Rica. Le complexe d’espèces C. incertus du groupe d’espèces Copris minutus (Drury, 1773) comprend C. incertus, Copris laeviceps Harold, 1869, et Copris lugubris Boheman, 1858. D’après la morphologie externe et les organes génitaux mâles, nous avons découvert que plusieurs espèces ont été classées comme C. incertus. Parmi ces espèces, cinq sont nouvelles: Copris amazonicus nouvelle espèce, Copris brevicornis nouvelle espèce, Copris davidi nouvelle espèce, Copris moroni nouvelle espèce et Copris susanae nouvelle espèce. Ici, nous révisons l’organisation du complexe d’espèces C. incertus et proposons un nouveau complexe d’espèces, le complexe d’espèces C. laeviceps, qui comprend: C. davidi, Copris igualensis Warner, 1990, et C. laeviceps, autrefois inclus dans le complexe d’espèces C. incertus. Nous présentons une clé d’identification ainsi que des cartes de répartition pour chacune des espèces, ainsi que les images des habitus et des caractères diagnostiques.

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Dung Beetle and Terrestrial Mammal Diversity in Forests, Indigenous Agroforestry Systems and Plantain Monocultures in Talamanca, Costa Rica

Celia A Harvey, Jorge González, Eduardo J Somarriba (2006)

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BIOGEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF SCARABAEINAE AND GEOTRUPINAE ALONG A TRANSECT IN CENTRAL MEXICO (COLEOPTERA, SCARABAEOIDEA)

Gonzalo Halffter, José R. Verdú, Juan Márquez … (2008)

Scarabaeinae and Geotrupinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea) species composition is analyzed along a 150 km long altitudinal transect that runs S-NE in the Mexican Transition zone. The transect is located in the state of Hidalgo in central-eastern Mexico. The spatial unit of analysis is the landscape. The transect crosses five different landscapes. As terms of reference for studying the geographic distribution of the species, the entomofauna distribution patterns for the Mexican Transition zone were used. The transect includes all the patterns established by Halffter for this zone. Only genera with northern origins were found in landscape of the Pachuca Sierra (mountain range). The two landscapes of the High Plateau (temperate and arid) have one genus with a northern origin ( Onthophagus ), along with species belonging to genera with Neotropical origins that evolved on the High Plateau. For the landscapes of the zacualtipán Sierra and the slope down to the Gulf–Las Huastecas region genera of Neotropical affinity dominate, and there are also some species with a tropical distribution and of northern-Old World origin. The relationship between the mountains and the phyletic lineages or genera of northern origin and of recent entry into the Mexican Transition zone is confirmed, as is that between the tropical lowlands and the Neotropical lines or genera, also recent arrivals. Taxa that arrived a long time ago, of either origin, do not exhibit this geographic-ecological dependence. The Hidalgo Transect is compared with two other, similar transects sampled in the Mexican Transition zone: the Cofre de Perote–Gulf Coast transect (Veracruz) and that of Manantlán (Jalisco). In the mountain landscapes, High Plateau and Tropical Lowlands, there were no important differences in the species composition of the groups studied. In contrast, in the Transition landscape (zacualtipán in the Hidalgo Transect) there were very notable differences. In the Cofre de Perote transect, an important functional group is missing from the treeless habitats: the roller Scarabaeinae. For the same landscape, in Manantlán, lineages with Neotropical affinities are represented by a single species which completely dominates the beetles of northern affinities. This contrasts markedly with the Hidalgo and Cofre de Perote transects where, in the Transition landscape, Neotropical taxa are well represented. It appears that, unlike the tropical lowlands where (geologically recent) penetration of Neotropical taxa is massive in all three transects, in the transition landscapes (originally covered by cloud forest) the penetration of Neotropical taxa is highly variable, and depends on the mountain range in which they are found. In the Conclusions section, we analyze how the beetle fauna with different distribution patterns have contributed to the composition of the fauna of the Hidalgo Transect and in general that of the Mexican Transition zone, resulting in a mixture (genera with northern-Old World affinity, and genera with Neotropical affinities) that give the Mexican Transition zone its unique character.

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Karyotype differentiation patterns in species of the subfamily Scarabaeinae (Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera).

Diogo Cavalcanti Cabral-de-Mello, Sárah Gomes de Oliveira, Ituza Celeste Ramos … (2008)

The aim of this study was to describe the karyotype of species belonging to the subfamily Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) and to compile the conventional cytogenetic data available in the literature for this group. The karyotypes of ten species belonging to the tribes Canthonini, Coprini, Onthophagini and Phanaeini were analyzed by conventional staining. Eight of these species were described for the first time (Canthon aff carbonarius, Canthon chalybaeus, Coprophanaeus dardanus, Deltochilum aff amazonicum, Dichotomius geminatus, Oxysternon silenus, Phanaeus chalcomelas and Malagoniella aff astyanax) and two were redescribed (Diabroctis mimas and Digitonthophagus gazella) since their karyotypes differed from those previously published in the literature. Four species studied showed a diploid number of 2n=20 and a parachute type sex determining system and the karyotype was 2n=20,Xy in two species and 2n=18,Xy(p), 2n=19,X0, 2n=12,XY and 2n=14,neoXY in one each. The chromosome morphology of the different species varied, with the observation of metacentric, submetacentric, subacrocentric and acrocentric chromosomes. The X chromosome was predominantly meta or submetacentric in the species analyzed, whereas the y chromosome presented two arms or was punctiform. In conclusion, the subfamily Scarabaeinae comprises 120 species analyzed cytogenetically, and are observed the occurrence of five chromosome rearrangements (autosome-autosome and X-autosome fusions, pericentric inversions, fissions and loss of the y chromosome) that are related to the chromosome variability and evolution in the group.