''Versicorpus'' is a genus of

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 ...

or scarab beetles in the superfamily

Scarabaeoidea Scarabaeoidea is a superfamily of beetles, the only subgroup of the infraorder Scarabaeiformia. Around 35,000 species are placed in this superfamily and some 200 new species are described each year. Some of its constituent families are undergo ...

. ''Versicorpus'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and is only found at the

Mount Erongo Mount Erongo (21º37'S 15º40'E) is a mountain of 2,350 metres northeast of Swakopmund in Erongo Region, Namibia. Like the Brandberg Mountain it is a granitic intrusion. It is the only place on Earth that '' Versicorpus erongoensis'', a dung bee ...

. This is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

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 ...

with only one species, ''Versicorpus erongoensis''. ''Versicorpus'' probably live in close association with

rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (from some interpretations of a word used in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Common ...

es (''Procavia capensis'' Pallas). These Hyraxes have communal toilets or dung middens. These middens are probably a stable and dependable food source for ''Versicorpus'' in a resource scarce environment. ''Versicorpus erongoensis'' is a flightless dung beetle that is probably closely related to '' Dicranocara'' Deschodt & Scholtz and '' Namakwanus'' Scholtz & Howden.

References

Monotypic Scarabaeidae genera Beetles of Africa Insects of Namibia Endemic fauna of Namibia {{Scarabaeidae-stub