''Versicorpus'' is a genus of

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 ...

or scarab beetles in the superfamily

Scarabaeoidea Scarabaeoidea is a superfamily of beetles, the only subgroup of the infraorder Scarabaeiformia. Around 35,000 species are placed in this superfamily and some 200 new species are described each year. Its constituent families are also undergoing r ...

. ''Versicorpus'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and is only found at the

Mount Erongo Mount Erongo (21º37'S 15º40'E) is a mountain of 2,350 metres northeast of Swakopmund in Erongo Region, Namibia. Like the Brandberg Mountain it is a granitic intrusion. It is the only place on Earth that '' Versicorpus erongoensis'', a dung beet ...

. This is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

with only one species, ''Versicorpus erongoensis''. ''Versicorpus'' probably live in close association with

rock hyrax The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the das ...

es (''Procavia capensis'' Pallas). These Hyraxes have communal toilets or dung middens. These middens are probably a stable and dependable food source for ''Versicorpus'' in a resource scarce environment. ''Versicorpus erongoensis'' is a flightless dung beetle that is probably closely related to '' Dicranocara'' Deschodt & Scholtz and '' Namakwanus'' Scholtz & Howden.

References

Monotypic Scarabaeidae genera Beetles of Africa Insects of Namibia Endemic fauna of Namibia {{Scarabaeidae-stub