''Cartwrightia'' is a genus of scarab found in Latin America. It was named and

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

in 1958 by Federico Islas Salas. , three species are recognized: '' C. intertribalis'', '' C. cartwrighti'', and '' C. islasi''. They can be found in the nests of

leafcutter ant Leafcutter ants, a Genus#Generic name, non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genus, genera ''Atta (genus), Atta'' and ''Acromyrmex''. These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all Endemism, ende ...

s or in dung.

Taxonomic history

The Mexican entomologist Federico Islas Salas

the genus ''Cartwrightia'' in 1959 for his newly- described species ''C. intertribalis''. The generic name is in honor of the American entomologist Oscar Ling Cartwright. In 1967, Cartwright himself described two additional species in this genus: '' C. islasi'', whose

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honors Islas, and '' C. cartwrighti'', which Cartwright named after his brother.

Taxonomy

''Cartwrightia'' is in the subfamily

Aphodiinae Aphodiinae is a subfamily of the scarab beetle family, Scarabaeidae. Members of this subfamily are known commonly as the small dung beetles and many, but not all, are dung beetles.Skelley, P. EAphodiinae.Generic Guide to New World Scarab Beetles. ...

of the scarab family

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

, although entomologists are not all in agreement as to which

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

it should be placed in. American entomologist has described this genus as "unusual", "distinct", and in need of additional study as to its taxonomic classification. Its characteristics are similar to those of various tribes, including: Eupariini, Odontolochini, and Rhyparini. In 1967, Cartwright wrote this genus "superficially appears most closely allied to '' Rhyparus'' in the tribe Rhyparina", but placed this genus in the tribe Eupariina. Others who have placed it in Eupariina include the Italian entomologist , the American entomologist and the Canadian-Australian entomologist , Skelley, and Mexican entomologist . and colleagues, however, disagreed with this, placing it in Rhyparini as the mouthparts and head shape exclude it from the tribe Eupariini. The Swedish entomologists Hege Vårdal and Mattias Forshage have also placed this genus in Rhyparini.

Description

Beetles in this genus are long and have elongate, somewhat flat bodies which are

rufous Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

in color. They have elongated mesocoxa and their

mesothorax The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on ...

lateral

sclerite A sclerite (Greek , ', meaning "hard") is a hardened body part. In various branches of biology the term is applied to various structures, but not as a rule to vertebrate anatomical features such as bones and teeth. Instead it refers most commonly ...

s are hidden. This genus is also characterized by bulbous formations at the posterior tips of their

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

and depressions on their

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

Distribution

''Cartwrightia'' are found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. ''C. intertribalis'' have been found in Mexico, ''C. islasi'' have been found in Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and ''C. cartwrighti'' are found throughout tropical South America.

Biology

''Cartwrightia'' species are

myrmecophilous Myrmecophily ( , ) is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. Myrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its m ...

and ant

inquiline In zoology, an inquiline (from Latin ''inquilinus'', "lodger" or "tenant") is an animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species. For example, some organisms such as insects may live in the h ...

s. ''C. islasi'' have been found in the nest of the leafcutter ant ''

Atta cephalotes ''Atta cephalotes'' is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini (the fungus-growing ants). A single colony of ants can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has one queen that can live more than 15 years. The colony comprises ...

''. ''C. islasi'' and ''C. cartwrighti'' have also been found in dung.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14897939 Scarabaeidae genera Beetles of South America Beetles of Central America Insects of Mexico