Geotrupidae Latreille, 1802

Costa-Silva, Vinícius da, Ferreira, André da Silva, Bordin, Bruna R., Basílio, Daniel S., Rodrigues, Diego F., Gama, Emanuel R. R., Fuhrmann, Juares, Mariano, Júlia, Bevilaqua, Marcus, Cherman, Mariana A., Duarte, Paulo R. M., Grossi, Paschoal C. & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z., 2024, Brazilian Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) in the Taxonomic Catalogue of the Brazilian Fauna, with a key for families and subfamilies, Zoologia (e 23075) 41, pp. 1-37 : 10

Geotrupidae Latreille, 1802

Figs 4E, 6B

Diagnosis. Shape oval or round. Antennae with 11-antenomeres with 3-jointed club, with all antennomeres at least partially tomentose. Clypeus often with tubercle or horn. Mandibles produced beyond apex of labrum ( Howden 1955, Jameson 2002a).

Remarks. These beetles exhibit a diverse diet, including saprophagous and mycetophagous, with some adults seemingly not feeding ( Jameson 2002a, Houston and Bougher 2010). According to Jameson (2002a), adult geotrupids can dig deep burrows in the soil and usually remain there during the day, often being active at night (also see Lawrence and Jin 2019). Geotrupidae are found worldwide, with approximately 1,100 species described within about 83 genera in three subfamilies ( Schoolmeesters 2023). In Brazil, there is only the Bolboceratinae , with 76 species in five genera ( Vaz-de-Mello 2023a; Table 2). Species of Bolboceratinae are typically collected using flight interception traps or light traps, when not found in their natural habitat ( Howden 2006, Boilly and Vaz-de-Mello 2021).

There are foundational works that can be used for identification of the Brazilian genera, like Howden and MartÍnez (1963) for Athyreini and MartÍnez (1976) for the non-Athyreyni. To identify the species of Bolbapium Boucomont, 1910 a recent revision in Carvalho and Vaz-de-Mello (2022) can be used. Species of Athyreus MacLeay, 1819 can be identified in Howden and MartÍnez (1978) with a new species from Brazil in Howden (2002). Parathyreus Howden and MartÍnez, 1963 can be identified in Howden (1985a). Neoathyreus Howden and MartÍnez, 1963 can be identified in Howden (1985b) and Boilly and Vaz-de-Mello (2021), that provided a key to species-group.