''Zopherus'' is a genus of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s comprising 19 species. They live in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

and are adapted to wood-boring.

Distribution

Species of ''Zopherus'' only live in the Americas, where they are distributed from

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

to the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. Ten species live in the United States, five of them in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Description

Members of the genus are long and cylindrical, with very thick

exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the internal organs, in contrast to an internal endoskeleton (e.g. human skeleton, that ...

s. Indeed, the elytra are so thick that it is often necessary to drill a hole in them in order to mount specimens. Species living north of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

are almost all uniformly black in colour, while the tropical species are almost all strongly patterned in contrasting black and white. The animal's head is largely hidden by the

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

. The elytra are fused together, rendering ''Zopherus'' species unable to fly.

Ecology

''Zopherus'' species are adapted for boring into wood, some species even being reported to bore into sound wood, rather than only dead wood. ''Z. tristis'' lives under the bark of the desert tamarisk in the

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

, while ''Z. granicollis'' bores into the root crowns of Jeffrey pine (''

Pinus jeffreyi ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Calif ...

'') and single-leaf pine ('' Pinus monophylla'').

Taxonomy

The genus ''Zopherus'' encompasses species previously referred to three other genera, ''Megazopherus'', ''Zopherinus'' and ''Zopherodes'', all of which are now synonymized under ''Zopherus''. Many of the species have also been known by a number of

taxonomic synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The Botanical nomenclature, botanical and Zoological nomenclature, zoological codes of nomencl ...

s. The genus was initially erected in 1832 by

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

, using the spelling ''Zophorus''. This was later emended by Laporte de Castelnau to the more usual

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

''Zopherus''; the authorship should nonetheless ascribed to Gray, and not to Laporte, as many authors have done.

Use as living jewels

The species ''Zopherus chilensis'' from

Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...

, Mexico has been used in jewelry as living jewels.Observaciones sobre la biología del Maquech, ''Zopherus chilensis'' Gray, 1832 (Coleoptera: Zopheridae) en Yucatán, México. Jesús Miss y Enrique Reyes Novelo
Con acceso el 14 de junio de 2012.

Etymology

The name ''Zopherus'' is from the , meaning "dusky" or "gloomy".

Species

Charles A. Triplehorn recognised 19 species in his 1972

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

: *'' Zopherus angulicollis'' Champion, 1884 *'' Zopherus championi'' Triplehorn, 1972 *'' Zopherus chilensis'' Gray, 1832 *'' Zopherus concolor'' LeConte, 1851 *'' Zopherus elegans'' Horn, 1870 *'' Zopherus gracilis'' Horn, 1867 *'' Zopherus granicollis'' Horn, 1885 *'' Zopherus jansoni'' Champion, 1884 *'' Zopherus jourdani'' Sallé, 1849 *'' Zopherus laevicollis'' Colier, 1841 *'' Zopherus mexicanus'' Gray, 1832 *'' Zopherus nervosus'' Solier, 1841 *'' Zopherus nodulosus'' Solier, 1841 *'' Zopherus opacus'' Horn, 1867 *'' Zopherus sanctaehelenae'' (Blaisdell, 1931) *'' Zopherus solieri'' Triplehorn, 1972 *'' Zopherus tristis'' LeConte, 1851 *'' Zopherus uteanus'' (Casey, 1907) *'' Zopherus xestus'' Triplehorn, 1972

References

{{Authority control Zopheridae Woodboring beetles Beetles of North America Taxa named by George Robert Gray