Gymnopleurini is a

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 is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

scarab beetles 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 ...

, in the

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 ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

(

Scarabaeinae The scarab beetle subfamily Scarabaeinae consists of species collectively called true dung beetles. Most of the beetles of this subfamily feed exclusively on dung. However, some may feed on decomposing matter including carrion, decaying fruits a ...

), but it may now be combined with the

Scarabaeini The ScarabaeiniLatreille PA (1802) ''Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Tome 3.'' F. Dufart, Paris. are a tribe of old-world dung beetle genera, erected by Pierre André Latreille. Genera ''BioLib' ...

.Biolib.cz
tribus Scarabaeini Latreille, 1802 (retrieved 23 August 2021) The side edge of each

elytron 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 ...

(hardened fore-wing protecting the hind-wing) has a characteristic shape that exposed the underlying pleural

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 (side plates of the abdomen). Relative to other dung beetles they are of moderate size (10–18 mm long).

Ecology

All species fly during the day (diurnal). They are probably all ball-rollers: a ball is fashioned from the dung, and rolled away from it, either by a single beetle or a pair of beetles. A short tunnel is dug in the soil, and the ball is buried at the end of it. After reworking the ball, the female lays an egg in a depression in the ball, and covers it with dung. The brood is then abandoned; after hatching, larvae feed on the dung ball.

Taxonomy

There are four genera in this tribe: *'' Allogymnopleurus'' *''

Garreta ''Garreta'' is a genus of dung beetles (subfamily Scarabaeinae) in the scarab beetle family (Scarabaeidae). There are more than 20 described species; most are African and some are from Asia. They are generally found in fairly moist habitats (fore ...

'' *'' Gymnopleurus'' *'' Paragymnopleurus''

References

External links

* Scarabaeidae Scarabaeinae {{Scarabaeinae-stub