Geotrupidae (from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

γῆ ''(gē)'', earth, and τρῡπητής ''(trȳpētēs)'', borer) is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of beetles in the order Coleoptera. They are commonly called earth-boring dung beetles or dor beetles.Geotrupidae - Dor beetles (at NatureSpot)
/ref> Most excavate

burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of sh ...

s in which to lay their eggs. They are typically

detritivore Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, ...

s, provisioning their nests with leaf litter (often moldy), but are occasionally

coprophagous Coprophagia () or coprophagy () is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the grc, κόπρος , "feces" and , "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of ...

, similar to

dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

s. The

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

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. A few species communicate by

stridulation Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mech ...

(rubbing body parts together to make sounds).

Classification

They were originally classified as the subfamily Geotrupinae in the family Scarabaeidae before being elevated to a family. Traditionally the family

Bolboceratidae Bolboceratidae is a family of beetle. It was historically treated as a subfamily of the earth-boring dung beetles, or "dor beetles" (family Geotrupidae), but has been considered a separate family by many authors since 1995. Some recent classific ...

was included (as the subfamily Bolboceratinae) on the basis of the number of

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

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

Lucanidae Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...

and Diphyllostomatidae. *

Geotrupinae Geotrupinae is a subfamily of earth-boring scarab beetles in the family Geotrupidae. There are more than 30 genera and 450 described species in Geotrupinae. Genera These 31 genera belong to the subfamily Geotrupinae: * '' Allotrupes'' Françoi ...

** '' Allotrupes'' Boucomont, 1912 ** ''

Anoplotrupes ''Anoplotrupes'' is a genus of earth-boring dung beetles belonging to the family Geotrupidae subfamily Geotrupinae Geotrupinae is a subfamily of earth-boring scarab beetles in the family Geotrupidae. There are more than 30 genera and 450 descr ...

Jekel Henri Jekel (September 21, 1816, Paris - August 4, 1891) was a French coleopterist. Life and work Jekel ran a natural history items and books store in Paris. In 1849 he wrote a revision of the work ''Genera et species Curculionidarum'' by the Sw ...

, 1866 ** '' Baraudia'' López-Colón, 1996 ** ''

Ceratophyus ''Ceratophyus'' is a genus of earth-boring scarab beetles in the family Geotrupidae. There are about 13 described species in ''Ceratophyus''. Species These 13 species belong to the genus ''Ceratophyus'': * ''Ceratophyus alloini'' Prunier, Tauzi ...

Fischer von Waldheim Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Фи́шер фон Ва́льдгейм, translit=Grigórij Ivánovič Fíšer fon Vál'dgejm; 13 October 1771 – 18 October 1853) was a Saxon anatomist, entomol ...

, 1823 ** '' Ceratotrupes''

, 1865 ** '' Chelotrupes''

, 1866 ** '' Cnemotrupes''

, 1866 ** '' Cretogeotrupes'' Nikolajev, 1992 ** '' Enoplotrupes'' Lucas, 1869 ** '' Geohowdenius'' Zunino, 1984 ** ''

Geotrupes ''Geotrupes'' (from Greek 'earth-boring') is a genus of earth-boring scarab beetles in the family Geotrupidae. There are at least 30 described species in ''Geotrupes''. Species These 31 species belong to the genus ''Geotrupes'': * '' Geotrupe ...

'' Latreille, 1796 ** '' Halffterius'' Zunino, 1984 ** '' Haplogeotrupes'' Nikolaev, 1979 ** '' Jekelius'' López-Colón, 1989 ** '' Lethrus''

Scopoli Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italian physician and naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first anational European" and the "Linnaeus of the Au ...

, 1777 ** '' Megatrupes'' Zunino, 1984 ** ''

Mycotrupes ''Mycotrupes'' is a genus of earth-boring scarab beetles in the family Geotrupidae Geotrupidae (from Greek γῆ ''(gē)'', earth, and τρῡπητής ''(trȳpētēs)'', borer) is a family of beetles in the order Coleoptera. They are comm ...

'' LeConte, 1866 ** '' Odontotrypes'' Fairmaire, 1887 ** '' Onthotrupes'' Howden, 1964 ** '' Phelotrupes''

, 1866 ** '' Peltotrupes''

Blanchard Blanchard is a French family name. It is also used as a given name. It derives from the Old French word ''blanchart'' which meant "whitish, bordering upon white". It is also an obsolete term for a white horse. Geographical distribution As of 2014, ...

, 1888 ** '' Pseudotrypocopris'' Miksic, 1954 ** '' Sericotrupes'' Zunino, 1984 ** '' Silphotrupes''

, 1866 ** '' Thorectes'' Mulsant, 1842 ** '' Trypocopris''

Motschulsky Victor Ivanovich Motschulsky (sometimes Victor von Motschulsky, russian: link=no, Виктор Иванович Мочульский, 11 April 1810, in St. Petersburg – 5 June 1871, in Simferopol) was a Russian entomologist mainly interested in ...

, 1860 ** '' Typhaeus'' Leach, 1815 ** '' Zuninoeus'' López-Colón, 1989 * Taurocerastinae ** '' Frickius'' Germain, 1897 ** '' Taurocerastes''

Philippi Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colon ...

, 1866

References

External links

* D. Jonathan Browne and Clarke H. Scholtz
Bolboceratidae
from th
Tree of Life

Key to the British species of family Geotrupidae

Video of Geotrupes from Hungary
{{Taxonbar, from=Q309217 Beetle families Articles containing video clips