New synonyms and records of Costa Rican and Panamanian dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Abstract

To better understand the dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) biodiversity of Costa Rica and Panama, new synonyms, records, distributions, and updates are presented. This paper analyzes the distribution and taxonomy of Phanaeus olsoufieffi Balthasar, 1939 in Panama and establishes the following new subjective synonym: Phanaeus panamensis Moctezuma and Halffter, 2021 = Phanaeus olsoufieffi Balthasar, 1939. Color morphs of Phanaeus pyrois Bates, 1887 in Costa Rica are analyzed. The Costa Rican distribution of Onthophagus bidentatus Drapiez, 1819 and O. marginicollis Harold, 1880 is stud¬ied. Onthophagus bidentatus is recorded for Costa Rica for the first time. A population analysis of barcode mtDNA, color morphs, and morphological and genitalia characters for different body sizes of Onthophagus cyanellus is undertaken. An mtDNA barcode tree is presented to assess the molecular identity of O. cyanellus resulting in the reaffirmed subjective synonymy, Onthophagus mesoamericanus Zunino and Halffter, 1988 = O. cyanellus Bates, 1887.

References (69)

• Balthasar V. 1939. Neue Arten der palaearktischen und neotropischen coprophagen Scarabaeiden. Entomologické listy. Folia Entomologica 2: 41–47.
• Bates HW. 1887. Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Coleoptera. Vol. II. Part 2. Pectinicornia and Lamellicornia. Taylor and Francis; London. 432 p. + 24 Tables
• Blackwelder R. 1944. Checklist of the coleopterous insects of Mexico, Central America the West Indies and South America. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 185: 196–213.
• Brown WJ. 1927. Four new species of Onthophagus (Scarabaeidae). Canadian Entomologist 59: 1281–33.
• Chamorro W, Marín-Armijos D, Granda V, Vaz-de-Mello FZ. 2018. Listado de especies y clave de géneros y subgéneros de escarabajos estercoleros (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) presentes y presuntos para Ecuador. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 44: 72–100.
• Cupello M, Ribeiro-Costa CS, Vaz-de-Mello FZ. 2022. The evolution of Bolbites onitoides (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Phanaeini): its phylogenetic significance, geographical polychromatism and the subspecies problem. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 194: 973–1034.
• Cupello M, Vaz-de-Mello FZ. 2013. Taxonomic revision of the South American dung beetle genus Gromphas Brullé, 1837 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Phanaeini: Gromphadina). Zootaxa 3722: 439–482.
• Cupello M, Vaz-de-Mello FZ. 2014. Correction of the type species of the South American genus Gromphas Brullé, 1837 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Phanaeini). Zootaxa 3790: 399–400.
• Cupello M, Vaz-de-Mello FZ. 2016. A new species and the phylogeny of the South American genus Gromphas Brullé, 1837 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Phanaeini). Journal of Natural History 50(15–16): 943–969.
• Darling JDG, Génier F. 2018. Revision of the taxonomy and distribution of the Neotropical Copris incertus species complex. The Canadian Entomologist 150(5): 539–577.
• Drapiez M. 1819. Descriptions de quelques insectes nouveaux. Annales Generales des Sciences Physiques 1: 130–138.
• Eberhard W, Rodrígues RL, Polihronakis M. 2008. Pitfalls in understanding the functional significance of genital allometry. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22: 435–445.
• Edmonds WD. 1994. Revision of Phanaeus Macleay, a New World genus of Scarabaeinae dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae). Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 443: 1–105.
• Edmonds WD. 2000. Revision of the Neotropical dung beetle genus Sulcophanaeus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). Folia Heyrovskyana, Supplementum 6: 1–60.
• Edmonds WD, Zídek J. 2004. Revision of the Neotropical dung beetle genus Oxysternon (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Phanaeini). Folia Heyrovskyana 11: 1–58.