Gymnopleurini is a
tribe
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 ...
of
scarab beetles, in the
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 ...
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
(
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 ...
),
but it may now be combined with the
Scarabaeini
The ScarabaeiniLatreille PA (1802) ''Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Tome 3.'' F. Dufart, Paris. are a Tribe (biology), tribe of old-world Scarabaeinae, dung beetle genera, erected by Pierre André ...
.
Biolib.cz
tribus Scarabaeini Latreille, 1802 (retrieved 23 August 2021) The side edge of each elytron
An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes ...
(hardened fore-wing protecting the hind-wing) has a characteristic shape that exposed the underlying pleural sclerite
A sclerite (Greek language, Greek , ', meaning "hardness, hard") is a hardened body part. In various branches of biology the term is applied to various structures, but not as a rule to vertebrate anatomical features such as bones and teeth. Instea ...
s (side plates of the abdomen). Relative to other dung beetles they are of moderate size (10–18 mm long).
Ecology
All species fly during the day (diurnal). They are probably all ball-rollers: a ball is fashioned from the dung, and rolled away from it, either by a single beetle or a pair of beetles. A short tunnel is dug in the soil, and the ball is buried at the end of it. After reworking the ball, the female lays an egg in a depression in the ball, and covers it with dung. The brood is then abandoned; after hatching, larvae feed on the dung ball.
Taxonomy
There are four genera in this tribe:
*'' Allogymnopleurus''
*'' Garreta''
*'' Gymnopleurus''
*'' Paragymnopleurus''
References
External links
*
Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeinae
{{Scarabaeinae-stub