BEETLE GENUS ONTHOPHAGUS — HOWDEN, CARTWRIGHT 3 



Review of literature 



The genus Onthophagus was established by Latreille in 1802. Since 

 that time parts of the genus have received considerable attention. 

 The American species north of Mexico were discussed by Horn in 1875. 

 In this work he listed only five species; actually he included five species 

 under one of these names and started much of the confusion of later 

 authors. In 1881, he described three more. In 1887, Bates described 

 and listed many of the species occurring in Mexico and in Central and 

 South America. In Blatchley's 1910 work on the Coleoptera of 

 Indiana, eight species and varieties are listed; incorrect placement of 

 several of these continued and compounded the subsequent confusion. 

 In 1914, Schaeffer included 18 species in "A Short Review of the North 

 American Species of Onthophagus," the most recent comprehensive 

 paper on the American species north of Mexico. The list of the 

 Onthophagus of the world published by Boucomont and Gillet in 1927 

 greatly facilitated the study of the group. Subsequently a nmnber of 

 new North American species were described by Brown (1927; 1929a; 

 1929b) . These papers were followed by a synopsis of the Mexican and 

 Central and South American species by Boucomont in 1932. 

 Boucomont's paper was intended to be used mainly to identify the 

 Mexican and South American forms, but the inclusion of many species 

 from the United States, in both keys and footnotes, made it useful 

 for all the Americas. 



The habits of our North American species are still almost unknown. 

 Sim, in 1930, discussed the habits of Onthophagus suhaeneus (under 

 the name cribricollis). In 1935, Lindquist mentioned some of the 

 habits of 0. pennsylvanicus and 0. alluvius (under anthracinus). A 

 few additional observations on 0. pennsylvanicus and 0. hecate were 

 included in Miller's 1954 paper on dung beetles. 



The only descriptive work on the immatiu-e stages of North Ameri- 

 can Onthophagus was published by Ritcher in 1945. In this work on 

 the larvae of the Coprinae of eastern North America, he described in 

 detail the larvae of 0. hecate and 0. pennsylvanicus. He also gave a 

 short discussion of their habits. The larva and pupa of 0. texanus 

 were pictured and the biology summarized in a paper by Howden 

 (1957). 



The habits of many of the European species of Onthophagus have 

 been studied rather intensively, the information on these being sum- 

 marized in a book by von Lengerken in 1954. In this work the habits 

 of 0. nuchicornis, now established in Canada and the United States, 

 are described in some detail. The habits of a number of other North 

 American species have received casual mention m numerous papers; 

 these papers are cited in the discussion of habits following the descrip- 

 tion of each species. 



