Geotrupidae (from Greek γῆ (gē), earth, and τρῡπητής (trȳpētēs), borer) is a family of beetles in the order Coleoptera. They are commonly called earth-boring dung beetles or dor beetles.[1] Most excavate burrows in which to lay their eggs. They are typically detritivores, provisioning their nests with leaf litter (often moldy), but are occasionally coprophagous, similar to dung beetles. The eggs are laid in or upon the provision mass and buried, and the developing larvae feed upon the provisions. The burrows of some species can exceed 2 metres in depth.

Geotrupidae
Geotrupes egeriei
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Scarabaeiformia
Superfamily: Scarabaeoidea
Family: Geotrupidae
Latreille, 1802
Genera

25, see text

Anoplotrupes stercorosus

A few species communicate by stridulation (rubbing body parts together to make sounds).

Classification

edit

They were originally [when?] classified as the subfamily Geotrupinae in the family Scarabaeidae before being elevated to a family. Traditionally the family Bolboceratidae was included (as the subfamily Bolboceratinae) on the basis of the number of antenna segments, but examination of a different set of characteristics prompted Scholtz & Browne (1995) to elevate Bolboceratidae to a family, a result supported by recent phylogenetic research.[2]

The family has more than 600 species in about 30 genera in two subfamilies; recent [when?] phylogenetic studies indicate that Taurocerastinae is not related to Geotrupinae, and is instead more closely related to Lucanidae and Diphyllostomatidae.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ Geotrupidae - Dor beetles (at NatureSpot)
  2. ^ a b MCKENNA, D. D., WILD, A. L., KANDA, K., BELLAMY, C. L., BEUTEL, R. G., CATERINO, M. S., FARNUM, C. W., HAWKS, D. C., IVIE, M. A., JAMESON, M. L., LESCHEN, R. A. B., MARVALDI, A. E., MCHUGH, J. V., NEWTON, A. F., ROBERTSON, J. A., THAYER, M. K., WHITING, M. F., LAWRENCE, J. F., ŚLIPIŃSKI, A., MADDISON, D. R. and FARRELL, B. D. (2015), The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Syst Entomol, 40: 835–880. doi:10.1111/syen.12132
edit