Portrait of Beelte from Scarabaeidae family

The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several subfamilies have been elevated to family rank (e.g.,

Bolboceratidae Bolboceratidae is a family of beetle. It was historically treated as a subfamily of the earth-boring dung beetles, or "dor beetles" (family Geotrupidae), but has been considered a separate family by many authors since 1995. Some recent classifica ...

, Geotrupidae, Glaresidae,

Glaphyridae Glaphyridae is a family of beetles, commonly known as bumble bee scarab beetles. There are eight extant genera with about 80 species distributed worldwide and two extinct genera described from the Aptian aged Yixian Formation of China. There are ...

Hybosoridae Hybosoridae, sometimes known as the scavenger scarab beetles, is a family of scarabaeiform beetles. The 690 species in 97 genera occur widely in the tropics, but little is known of their biology. Hybosorids are small, 5–7 mm in length a ...

Ochodaeidae Ochodaeidae, also known as the sand-loving scarab beetles, is a small family of scarabaeiform beetles occurring in many parts of the world. These beetles are small, ranging from . Their bodies are elongate and convex, with black and brown colo ...

, and Pleocomidae), and some reduced to lower ranks. The subfamilies listed in this article are in accordance with those in Bouchard (2011).

Description

Scarab Cartouche of Thutmosis III from Karnak

Scarabs are stout-bodied beetles, many with bright metallic colours, measuring between . They have distinctive, clubbed antennae composed of plates called lamellae that can be compressed into a ball or fanned out like leaves to sense odours. Many species are

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric evid ...

, with legs adapted for digging. In some groups males (and sometimes females) have prominent horns on the head and/or pronotum to fight over mates or resources. The largest fossil scarabaeid was '' Oryctoantiquus borealis'' with a length of . Curl grub

The C-shaped

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e, called grubs, are pale yellow or white. Most adult beetles are nocturnal, although the flower chafers ( Cetoniinae) and many leaf chafers (

Rutelinae Rutelinae or shining leaf chafers is a subfamily of the scarab beetles ( family Scarabaeidae). It is a very diverse group; distributed over most of the world, it contains some 200 genera with over 4,000 described species in 7 tribes. A few rece ...

) are active during the day. The grubs mostly live underground or under debris, so are not exposed to sunlight. Many scarabs are scavengers that recycle dung,

carrion Carrion () is the decaying flesh of dead animals, including human flesh. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

, or decaying plant material. Others, such as the

Japanese beetle The Japanese beetle (''Popillia japonica'') is a species of scarab beetle. The adult measures in length and in width, has iridescent copper-colored elytra and a green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan (where it is control ...

, are plant-eaters. Some of the well-known beetles from the Scarabaeidae are Japanese beetles,

dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

s, June beetles, rose chafers ( Australian, European, and

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the ...

), rhinoceros beetles,

Hercules beetle The Hercules beetle (''Dynastes hercules'') is a species of rhinoceros beetle native to the rainforests of Central America, South America, and the Lesser Antilles. It is the longest extant species of beetle in the world, and is also one of t ...

s and Goliath beetles. Several members of this family have structurally coloured shells which act as left-handed circular polarisers; this was the first-discovered example of circular polarization in nature.

Ancient Egypt

In Ancient Egypt, the dung beetle now known as ''

Scarabaeus sacer ''Scarabaeus sacer'', common name sacred scarab, is the type species of dung beetles in its genus and the family Scarabaeidae. Taxonomy ''Scarabaeus sacer'' was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of '' Systema Naturae'', t ...

'' (formerly ''Ateuchus sacer'') was revered as sacred. Egyptian amulets representing the sacred scarab beetles were traded throughout the Mediterranean world.bugguide.net
Family Scarabaeidae - Scarab Beetles

References

External links

Flickr
Images on Flickr

Photos of various Cetonidae, Dynastidae, Euchiridae, Lucanidae and Trichinae]
Family SCARABAEIDAE

* ttp://digitalcommons.unl.edu/entomologypapers/1/ Bibliography of literature published on scarab beetles since 1 January 2001(worldwide coverage; through 2005)
UNL
Generic Guide to New World Scarabaeidae * * {{Authority control Beetle families Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille

Description

Ancient Egypt

See also

References

Further reading

External links