A contribution to the knowledge of the mountain entomofauna of Mexico with a description of two new species of Onthophagus Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae)

By

Moctezuma, Victor
Rossini, Michele
Zunino, M. (Mario), 1944-
Halffter, Gonzalo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

572

Pages

23-50

Subjects

fauna de montaña , Mexican Transition Zone , mountain fauna , Onthophagus , Scarabaeinae , Sistema Volcánico Transversal , Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt , Zona de Transición Mexicana

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.572.6763

 

Abstract

Recent intensive samplings carried out across the mountainous regions of El Pinal (Puebla, Mexico) have provided new insights into the main environmental factors that affect the geographic distribution of the scarabaeinae beetles of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt above 2500 m a.s.l. This study is part of an ongoing project investigating the diversity and biogeography of copro-necrophagous beetles (Scarabaeinae, Aphodiinae, Geotrupinae and Silphidae) in the easternmost areas of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Previous experience allows us to propose a series of predictions that we expect will provide possible explanations for current distribution patterns observed in Scarabaeinae and other groups of insects found in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. This mountain range has a primarily biogeographic importance, limiting the Mexican High Plateau in the South and connecting the western and eastern Sierra Madre mountain chains, which are considered the most important routes for dispersal of mountain fauna of northern origin. The taxonomic and biogeographic study of the species collected so far in El Pinal (including Onthophagus clavijeroi sp. n. and Onthophagus martinpierai sp. n. described here), along with their possible relationships with other known species, allows us to answer the preliminary assumptions proposed.