PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued i^^jVA- wJ^I ^y ^' 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 89 Washington: 1940 No. 3092 



A REVISION OF THE WEST INDIAN BEETLES OF THE 

 SCARABAEID SUBFAMILY APHODIINAE 



By Edward A. Chapin 



The Aphodiinae form a compact group in the lamellicorn Coleop- 

 tera that is considered by some workers to be of family rank. The 

 species have a characteristic habitus and are mostly scavengers in 

 the dung of higher animals. Some are associated with ant colonies, 

 and a few, notably the species of Saprosites, appear to feed on the dung 

 of wood-boring insects such as the Passalidae. As a group their dis- 

 tribution is world wide, and the range of some species has come, 

 through the agency of commerce, to coincide with that of the whole. 

 This transfer of species is going on actively at present, and it is only 

 a matter of time before the distribution of the species feeding on 

 dung of domesticated animals will be determined not by natural 

 barriers but by the penetration of human commerce and the adapta- 

 bility of the species to new climatic conditions. To judge from the 

 fact that A'phodiu^s lividus (Olivier) is now generally established 

 from Northern United States to the South Sea Islands and completely 

 around the world in the Tropics and Subtropics, climate will play 

 a minor role among the distributional factors. 



There has been active commercial intercourse among the various 

 West Indian Islands and among the islands and many localities on 

 the mainland of the New World for about 300 years. Aphodius sallei 

 Harold appears to have been introduced onto certain islands during 

 this period. On the other hand, its distribution at present could be 

 offered as a perfect example to support the land-bridge hypothesis, for 

 it is abundant in Mexico and Central America, common on Jamaica, 

 and frequent on Hispaniola, but apparently absent elsewhere. There- 



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