A new Mexican species of Rhyparus Westwood (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), with new records and a key to the Mexican and Guatemalan species

Abstract

In this paper we describe Rhyparus chimalapensis new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini), from the region of Chimalapas, Oaxaca, Mexico. New records are given for three species of Rhyparus Westwood from Mexico and Guatemala. A key to the Mexican and Guatemalan species of this genus is included.

Evolutionary radiation strategy revealed in the Scarabaeidae with evidence of continuous spatiotemporal morphology and phylogenesis

“…We proposed that environmental selection pressures and ecological niche changes influenced the differentiation of the elytron in the following ways: beetles in Scarabaeinae evolved a more arched and shortened body, which was reflected in the deformation trend of lateral expansion and longitudinal contraction of the elytron, which enhanced their digging ability and promoted their behavior of burying dung balls under the ground, characters that have been preserved by natural selection over a long period of evolution 49 . The body morphology of scarabs in Aphodiini and Rhyparini gradually evolved an elongated shape during the evolution of dwelling behavior in feces and anthills 20 , 31 , 50 . This discovery provided morphological evidence to explain the concept of niche competition between Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae.…”

A review of the flightless genus Nanotermitodius Howden, 2003 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae: Rhyparini)

“…Research in the past decade on New World Rhyparini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) has discovered new species in most genera, including fossil taxa, with a present total of 26 species in six genera (Mencl & Rakovič 2013;Mora-Aguilar & Delgado 2019a;Minkina 2020;Skelley 2021aSkelley , 2021bSkelley et al 2022). Additional manuscripts describing new taxa are currently in preparation.…”