Aphodiinae is a subfamily of the scarab beetle family,

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change. Several groups formerly tre ...

. Members of this subfamily are known commonly as the small dung beetles and many, but not all, are

dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. All species of dung beetle belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles). As most species of Scara ...

s.Skelley, P. E
Aphodiinae.
Generic Guide to New World Scarab Beetles. University of Nebraska State Museum. 2008 Version. These beetles are found worldwide. These beetles are small scarab beetles, most less than 8 millimeters long. Many have small mandibles that are covered by a widened clypeus, the exoskeleton plate above the mouth. The feet are clawed. This is a diverse subfamily with varied life strategies and habitat types. Many species are dung beetles, which collect and feed on animal dung. Other species are

detritivore Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, ...

s or saprophages, which feed on dead matter, and some are predatory. Some are known as

inquiline In zoology, an inquiline (from Latin ''inquilinus'', "lodger" or "tenant") is an animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species. For example, some organisms, such as insects, may live in the ...

s, living in ant or termite nests, and some are sand-dwelling beetles. A survey of South American aphodiines found them in diverse habitat types including temperate rainforests, high-elevation

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

grassland,

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

, coastal

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

, and

subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46th parallel south, 46° and 60th parallel south, 60° south of t ...

beech forest.Smith, A. B. T. and P. E. Skelley. (2007)
A review of the Aphodiinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) of southern South America.
''Zootaxa'' 1458. Research on

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

dung finds the vast majority of dung beetles exploiting during the night are aphodiine dwellers (98%). In contrast during the day, they were a minority (9.2%) with the majority (85%) being tunnelers (paracoprids). The role of aphodiines in removing dung has been suggested to have been underestimated since they are better flyers than other types of dung beetles and, therefore, not so readily caught by traps as tunnelers or rollers. The Catalog of Life and World and World Scarabaeidae Database (2023) include 12

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

with more than 380 genera and 3,500 described species in Aphodiinae.

Tribes

* Aphodiini Leach, 1815 * Corythoderini Schmidt, 1910 * Eupariini Schmidt, 1910 * Hornietiini Minkina, 2020 * Odochilini Rakovič, 1987 * Odontolochini Stebnicka & Howden, 1996 * Psammodiini Mulsant, 1842 * Rhyparini Schmidt, 1910 * Stereomerini Howden & Storey, 1992 * Termitoderini Tangelder & Krikken, 1982 * Thinorycterini Semenov & Reichardt, 1925 * † Psammaegialiini Nikolajev, Wang & Zhang, 2014

Gallery

Aphodius omissus omissus.jpg, '' Aphodius omissus'' Ataenius spretulus.jpg, '' Ataenius spretulus'' Dialytes monstrosus Harold, 1877 (4989956104).jpg, '' Dialytes monstrosus'' Volinus.sticticus.-.lindsey.jpg, '' Volinus sticticus'' Cartwrightia_cartwrighti_Cartwright_1967.png, '' Cartwrightia cartwrighti''

References

Scarabaeidae {{Scarabaeidae-stub

Tribes

Gallery

See also

References