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 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.

Scarabaeinae

Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ScarabaeidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 59 million years on record.

The record covers at least 59.24 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 70 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 70 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 5 of 70 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 70 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 15 of 70 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 70 occurrencesPleistocene — about 41 of 70 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 4 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 7 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 41 occurrences59.24 Mya129 ka67 Mya0 Mya

70 occurrences of Scarabaeinae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

70 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

17 formations

Highbury Silts and Sands — 51.56°N, 0.06°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EMizozono — 31.98°N, 130.74°ETsubusagawa — 33.40°N, 131.35°EHiwegi — 0.40°S, 34.17°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°ETsumori — 32.79°N, 130.86°EFirkanten — 78.10°N, 14.20°ELondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.70°WEifel — 50.10°N, 6.84°EKisatibi — 41.55°N, 43.03°EBushi — 35.84°N, 139.35°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°EYanagida — 37.52°N, 137.24°ENogami — 33.21°N, 131.15°ECangahua — 0.20°S, 78.51°W

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The named rock units Scarabaeinae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 28 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scarabaeinae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Scarabaeinae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,014 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Scarabaeinae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

32 references

Each of the 70 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 20 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Scarabaeinae

Credit
Didier Descouens
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itScarabaeidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Latreille 1802