Onthophagus
Guides
Onthophagini
Onthophagine dung beetles
Onthophagini is a large and ecologically significant tribe of dung beetles within the family Scarabaeidae. The tribe comprises approximately half of the world's dung beetle fauna, with the genus Onthophagus alone containing over 2,300 species worldwide. Members are found on every continent except Antarctica. The tribe originated from a single common ancestor shared with the Oniticellini, with which it forms a monophyletic group. While many dung beetles are known for ball-rolling behavior, Onthophagini species exhibit diverse feeding strategies including specialization on fungi, carrion, and dead millipedes, with some species living in close association with termites and ants.
Onthophagus alluvius
Onthophagus alluvius is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Howden and Cartwright in 1963. It is native to the southern United States, particularly Texas, and extends into central and eastern Mexico. The species has been documented using dog dung as a resource. Like other Onthophagus species, it likely engages in tunneling behavior to bury dung for larval development, though specific behavioral details for this species remain limited.
Onthophagus arnetti
Onthophagus arnetti is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Howden and Cartwright in 1963. Like other members of the genus Onthophagus, it is likely associated with mammal dung, though specific ecological details remain poorly documented. The species is known from Arizona in the southwestern United States.
Onthophagus batesi
Onthophagus batesi is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, distributed across Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States. The species belongs to a genus renowned for male horn polymorphism and complex sexual selection dynamics. Like other Onthophagus species, it is associated with mammal dung for feeding and breeding. It was described by Harold in 1867 and has also been classified under the genus Phalops.
Onthophagus browni
Onthophagus browni is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Howden and Cartwright in 1963. It belongs to the large and diverse genus Onthophagus, which contains over 2,000 species worldwide. Like other members of its genus, this species is associated with mammal dung, playing a role in nutrient cycling. The species is distributed across parts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Onthophagus cochisus
Onthophagus cochisus is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, described by Brown in 1927. It belongs to the genus Onthophagus, a large and diverse group of tunneler dung beetles found worldwide. The species is known from limited distribution records in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Onthophagus coproides
Onthophagus coproides is a small dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, described by Horn in 1881. It measures 11–14 mm in length. The species occurs in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it participates in dung decomposition and nutrient cycling in arid and semi-arid environments.
Onthophagus cynomysi
Onthophagus cynomysi is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Brown in 1927. It is part of the large and diverse genus Onthophagus, which contains hundreds of species distributed worldwide. Like other members of this genus, it is likely associated with mammalian dung as a food and breeding resource, though specific ecological details remain poorly documented. The species is known from scattered records in the south-central United States.
Onthophagus depressus
scarab beetle
Onthophagus depressus is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, originally described from Africa and now established in Australia and the southeastern United States as an introduced species. It belongs to a genus well-studied for sexual selection and horn polymorphism in males, though specific behavioral studies for this species are limited. The species has been recorded in carrion-associated beetle communities, suggesting broader feeding ecology than strict dung specialization.
Onthophagus durangoensis
Onthophagus durangoensis is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, native to mountainous regions of Mexico and extending into the southwestern United States. It inhabits montane forests and has been documented in states across central and western Mexico, as well as in Arizona and New Mexico. Like other members of its genus, it is associated with mammal dung and plays a role in nutrient cycling in its ecosystems. The species was described by Balthasar in 1939 and is considered valid and accepted in current taxonomy.
Onthophagus knausi
Onthophagus knausi is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Brown in 1927. It belongs to the large genus Onthophagus, which contains numerous species known for their role in dung decomposition and distinctive male horn polymorphisms. The species is recorded from the central United States, with distribution records from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas.
Onthophagus mextexus
Onthophagus mextexus is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, described by Howden and Cartwright in 1970. The species occurs in montane regions of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas, USA. As a member of the genus Onthophagus, it is presumed to be a tunneler dung beetle that buries dung for larval development, though specific natural history details remain undocumented. The species was described from specimens collected in the Mexican states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, and Veracruz.
Onthophagus oklahomensis
Onthophagus oklahomensis is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Brown in 1927. It belongs to the genus Onthophagus, a large and diverse group of tunneler dung beetles known for their ecological role in nutrient recycling. The species is documented from the southeastern and south-central United States, with records extending from Oklahoma eastward to the Atlantic coast. Like other members of its genus, it is presumed to be associated with mammal dung, though specific ecological studies on this species are limited.
Onthophagus schaefferi
Onthophagus schaefferi is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, described by Howden and Cartwright in 1963. It belongs to the genus Onthophagus, a large and diverse group of dung beetles known for their ecological role in nutrient recycling and their complex sexual selection dynamics involving horned males. The species has been recorded from Texas in the United States and Veracruz in Mexico, placing it within the Nearctic and Neotropical biogeographic realms. Like other members of its genus, it likely participates in dung burial behavior, though specific details for this species remain limited.
Onthophagus subopacus
Onthophagus subopacus is a dung beetle species in the family Scarabaeidae, described by Robinson in 1940. The species is recorded from the southwestern United States (Arizona) and western Mexico (Durango, Jalisco, Sonora). As a member of the genus Onthophagus, it likely participates in dung burial and nutrient cycling, though specific ecological details remain poorly documented.
Onthophagus tuberculifrons
Onthophagus tuberculifrons is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, first described by Harold in 1871. The species has a broad distribution spanning the Nearctic region of North America and Oceania, including Hawaii. Like other members of the genus Onthophagus, it is presumed to be associated with mammal dung for feeding and breeding. The specific epithet "tuberculifrons" refers to tubercles on the frons (front of the head).