''Coprophanaeus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

in the 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 ...

(scarab beetles). The genus is almost entirely

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

, with a single species, '' C. pluto'', ranging into southernmost

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in the United States. They are medium-sized to large beetles, with the South American '' C. ensifer'' and '' C. lancifer'' sometimes exceeding in length, making these two some of the largest

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 in the world (together with certain '' Catharsius'' and '' Heliocopris'') and the largest in the Americas. They often have a horn on the head, and are typically a bright metallic color, most often blue or green (other colors also occur, for example red), or black., These diurnal or

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...

beetles are excellent diggers and good fliers. Although part of the true dung beetle subfamily

Scarabaeinae The scarab beetle subfamily Scarabaeinae consists of species collectively called true dung beetles (there are also dung beetles in other subfamilies and families). Most of the beetles of this subfamily feed exclusively on dung. However, some ma ...

, adult and young ''Coprophanaeus'' primarily feed on carrion, but many species may also feed on feces. They are paracoprids, meaning that adults dig tunnels into the soil under the food source and move parts of the food source to a nest chamber where the eggs are laid. Because of their feeding on carrion, they are of interest to

forensic entomology Forensic entomology is a branch of applied entomology that uses insects and other arthropods as a basis for legal evidence. Insects may be found on cadavers or elsewhere around crime scenes in the interest of forensic science. Forensic entom ...

Species

''Coprophanaeus'' is divided into three subgenera: ''Coprophanaeus'', ''Megaphanaeus'' and ''Metallophanaeus'', but it doubtful that the first and last of these are

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. The genus includes the following species:Biolib
/ref> * '' Coprophanaeus abas'' (MacLeay, 1819) * '' Coprophanaeus acrisius'' (MacLeay, 1819) * '' Coprophanaeus bellicosus'' (Olivier, 1789) * '' Coprophanaeus bonariensis'' (Gory, 1844) * '' Coprophanaeus boucardi'' (Nevinson, 1891) * '' Coprophanaeus callegarii'' Arnaud, 2002 * '' Coprophanaeus caroliae'' Edmonds, 2008 * '' Coprophanaeus cerberus'' (Harold, 1875) * '' Coprophanaeus chiriquensis'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus christophorowi'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus conocephalus'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus corythus'' (Harold, 1863) * '' Coprophanaeus cyanescens'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus dardanus'' (MacLeay, 1819) * '' Coprophanaeus degallieri'' Arnaud, 1997 * '' Coprophanaeus ensifer'' (Germar, 1821) * '' Coprophanaeus gamezi'' Arnaud, 2002 * '' Coprophanaeus gephyra'' Kohlmann & Solís, 2012 * '' Coprophanaeus gilli'' Arnaud, 1997 * '' Coprophanaeus horus'' (Waterhouse, 1891) * '' Coprophanaeus ignecinctus'' (Felsche, 1909) * '' Coprophanaeus jasius'' (Olivier, 1789) * '' Coprophanaeus lancifer'' (Linnaeus, 1767) * '' Coprophanaeus magnoi'' Arnaud, 2002 * '' Coprophanaeus milon'' (Blanchard, 1846) * '' Coprophanaeus morenoi'' Arnaud, 1982 * '' Coprophanaeus ohausi'' (Felsche, 1911) * '' Coprophanaeus parvulus'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus pecki'' Howden & Young, 1981 * '' Coprophanaeus pertyi'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus pessoai'' (Pereira, 1949) * '' Coprophanaeus pluto'' (Harold, 1863) * '' Coprophanaeus punctatus'' (Olsufieff, 1924) * '' Coprophanaeus saphirinus'' (Sturm, 1826) * '' Coprophanaeus solisi'' Arnaud, 1997 * '' Coprophanaeus spitzi'' (Pessôa, 1934) * '' Coprophanaeus suredai'' Arnaud, 1996 * '' Coprophanaeus telamon'' (Erichson, 1847) * '' Coprophanaeus thalassinus'' (Perty, 1830)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5168943 Scarabaeidae genera