The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 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 groups formerly treated as subfamilies have been elevated to family rank, and some reduced to lower ranks. The subfamilies listed in this article are in accordance with those in Catalog of Life (2023).
Kheper is a subgenus of Scarabaeus: the typical genus of scarab beetles in the tribe Scarabaeini. The genus name honors the god Khepri in the ancient Egyptian religion, who is depicted as having a scarab for a head. Kheper can be found on the border between Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa in the arid sand dunes. This genus of scarab beetles share a family with the oldest and most revered scarab beetles, the Scarabaeus sacer.
Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night.
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 revision presently, and the family list below is only preliminary. This superfamily includes some of the largest beetles extant today, including rhinoceros beetles, (Dynastinae), the Hercules beetle and Goliath beetles.
The Hercules beetle is a species of rhinoceros beetle native to the rainforests of southern Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Lesser Antilles. It is the longest extant species of beetle in the world, and is also one of the largest flying insects in the world.
Dynastes tityus, the eastern Hercules beetle, is a species of rhinoceros beetle native to the Eastern United States. The adult's elytra are green, gray or tan, with black markings, and the whole animal, including the male's horns, may reach 60 mm (2.4 in) in length. The larvae feed on decaying wood from various trees.
Phanaeus vindex, the rainbow scarab, is a North American species of true dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae. It is found in eastern and central United States and in adjacent far northern Mexico. It is the most widespread species of Phanaeus in the United States and it has a wide habitat tolerance. It may hybridize with the generally less common P. difformis.
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 and fungi. Dung beetles can be placed into three structural guilds based on their method of dung processing namely rollers (telecoprids), dwellers (endocoprids) and tunnelers (paracoprids). Dung removal and burial by dung beetles result in ecological benefits such as soil aeration and fertilization; improved nutrient cycling and uptake by plants, increase in Pasture quality, biological control of pest flies and intestinal parasites and secondary seed dispersal. Well-known members include the genera Scarabaeus and Sisyphus, and Phanaeus vindex.
The genus Scarabaeus consists of a number of Afro-Eurasian dung beetle species, including the "sacred scarab beetle", Scarabaeus sacer and is the namesake of the tribe Scarabaeini, the family Scarabaeidae, the superfamily Scarabaeoidea and the infraorder Scarabaeiformia. These beetles feed exclusively on dung, which they accomplish by rolling a piece of dung some distance from where it was deposited, and burying it in order to feed on it underground. They also prepare food for their larvae by excavating an underground chamber, and filling it with balls that have eggs laid in them. The growing larva feeds upon the dung ball, pupates, and eventually emerges as an adult.
Coprophanaeus is a genus in the family Scarabaeidae. The genus is almost entirely Neotropical, with a single species, C. pluto, ranging into southernmost Texas in the United States. They are medium-sized to large beetles, with the South American C. ensifer and C. lancifer sometimes exceeding 5 cm (2 in) in length, making these two some of the largest dung beetles in the world and the largest in the Americas. They often have a horn on the head, and are typically a bright metallic color, most often blue or green, or black. These diurnal or crepuscular beetles are excellent diggers and good fliers.
Sceliages, Westwood,, is a sub-genus of the Scarabaeus dung beetles, and are obligate predators of spirostreptid, spirobolid and julid millipedes, having renounced the coprophagy for which they were named. The genus is near-endemic to Southern Africa, Sceliages augias exceptionally ranging as far north as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Scarabaeus puncticollis is a species of beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae.
Sulcophanaeus is a genus of dung beetles belonging to the family Scarabaeidae. Most species in this genus are from tropical and subtropical South America, but a few are found in Central America and Mexico, and S. carnifex is from Jamaica. Sulcophanaeus are mostly coprophagous, but some are also necrophagous. They are paracoprids, meaning that adults dig tunnels into the soil under the food source and move parts of the food source to a nest chamber where the eggs are laid, and their activity pattern varies depending on species.
Onthophagus vacca is a species of dung beetles in the Onthophagini tribe of the wider scarab beetle family, Scarabaeidae.
Insects have long been used in religion, both directly and as images or symbols.
Sisyphini is a tribe of scarab beetles, in the dung beetle subfamily (Scarabaeinae), but it may now be combined with the Scarabaeini. The middle and hind legs are very long; the relatively short body is laterally compressed and has flattened sides. Relative to other dung beetles they are of small to moderate size.
Bodiloides ictericus is a species of dung beetle in the family Scarabaeidae, found in the Palearctic. It is one of more than 50 species in the genus Bodiloides.
Scarabaeus gangeticus, is a species of dung beetle found in many Indo-African countries including; India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Botswana, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The Scarabaeini are a tribe of old-world dung beetle genera, erected by Pierre André Latreille.
