''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of

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 belonging to 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 ...

. Most species in this genus are from tropical and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

(no other

Phanaeini Phanaeini is a tribe of dung beetles in the family Scarabaeidae. There are about 12 genera and 200 described species in Phanaeini. They are native to the Americas with the highest species richness in the Neotropics. They are mostly coprophagous ...

is found on an oceanic island). ''Sulcophanaeus'' are mostly

coprophagous Coprophagia ( ) or coprophagy ( ) is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek "feces" and "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of o ...

, but some are also necrophagous. 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, and their activity pattern ( diurnal /

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 ...

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

; year-round / seasonal) varies depending on species.

Species

''Sulcophanaeus'' comprises five species groups (''faunus'', ''carnifex'', ''auricollis'', ''imperator'' and ''menelas'') and about 15 valid species:Encyclopedia of life
/ref> * ''

Sulcophanaeus actaeon ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (Erichson, 1847) * '' Sulcophanaeus auricollis'' (von Harold, 1880) * '' Sulcophanaeus batesi'' (von Harold, 1868) * '' Sulcophanaeus carnifex'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

) * '' Sulcophanaeus chryseicollis'' (von Harold, 1863) * '' Sulcophanaeus columbi'' (W.S. MacLeay, 1819) * ''

Sulcophanaeus faunus ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (

Fabricius Fabricius (, ) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *people from the Ancient Roman Fabricia gens, gens Fabricia: **Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the first of the Fabricii to move to Rome * Johann Goldsmid (1587–1616), known by his ...

, 1775) * '' Sulcophanaeus imperator'' (Chevrolat, 1844) * ''

Sulcophanaeus leander ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (Waterhouse, 1891) * ''

Sulcophanaeus menelas ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (Laporte de Castelnau, 1840) * ''

Sulcophanaeus miyashitai ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' Arnaud, 2002 * ''

Sulcophanaeus noctis ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (Bates, 1887) * ''

Sulcophanaeus rhadamanthus ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (von Harold, 1875) * ''

Sulcophanaeus steinheili ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (von Harold, 1875) * ''

Sulcophanaeus velutinus ''Sulcophanaeus'' is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and ''S. carnifex'' is from Jamaica ...

'' (Murray, 1856)

Description

Adult ''Sulcophanaeus'' are generally long with some variations in exact size range depending on species, but the common Amazonian ''S. faunus '' usually is and sometimes even larger. They are short and powerful dung beetles. This genus includes some particularly colorful species with shiny, metallic colors, but there are also ''Sulcophanaeus'' species that are all black or very dark brown. Especially the males tend to have a long curved horn on the top of the head and may also have outgrowths of various kinds on the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

. The pronotum is much broader than long. The

elytra 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 (sometime ...

are short and broad with deep longitudinal wrinkles.W. D. Edmonds (2000)
Revision of Neotropical Dung Deetle Genus Sulcophanaeus
Folia Heyrovskyana, supplementum 6: 1-60.

Gallery

File:Sulcophanaeus faunus Fabricius, 1775 female (3184546771).jpg, ''Sulcophanaeus faunus'' - female File:Sulcophanaeus faunus Fabricius, 1775 male (3184546477).jpg, ''Sulcophanaeus faunus'' - male File:Sulcophanaeus imperator imperator (Chevrolat, 1844) female (3274236453).jpg, ''Sulcophanaeus imperator imperator'' - female File:Sulcophanaeus imperator imperator (Chevrolat, 1844) male (3274236157).jpg, ''Sulcophanaeus imperator imperator'' - male File:Sulcophanaeus menelas (Laporte, 1840) female (3415267634).jpg, ''Sulcophanaeus menelas'' - female File:Sulcophanaeus menelas (Laporte, 1840) male (3414461235).jpg, ''Sulcophanaeus menelas'' - male

References

* Scarabs: World Scarabaeidae Database. Schoolmeesters P. {{Authority control Scarabaeidae