Extinct before discovered? Epactoides giganteus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), the first native dung beetle to Réunion island

By

Rossini, Michele
Vaz-De-Mello, Fernando Z
Montreuil, Olivier
Porch, Nick
Tarasov, Sergey

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1061

Pages

75--86

Subjects

dung beetles , extinction , Madagascar , Malagasy region , Mascarene archipelago , Nicolas Bréon , over-water dispersal

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1061.70130

 

Abstract

We describe a new species of dung beetle,Epactoides giganteussp. nov., from a single female specimen allegedly collected in the 19thcentury on Réunion island and recently found at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. This species differs from other species ofEpactoidesby larger size and a set of other distinctive morphological characters.Epactoides giganteussp. nov.is the first native dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) of Réunion, and its discovery expands the known area of distribution of the genusEpactoides, which was hitherto believed to be endemic to Madagascar. Like other taxa from Madagascar and peripheral islands (e.g., Comoro, Seychelles, Mascarenes),E. giganteussp. nov.may have reached Réunion by over-water dispersal. Given the rapid loss of biodiversity on Réunion island and the fact that no additional specimens were re-collected over the last two centuries, it is very likely thatE. giganteussp. nov.has gone extinct. However, we have unconfirmed evidence that the holotype ofE. giganteussp. nov.might be a mislabeled specimen from Madagascar, which would refute the presence of native dung beetles on Réunion. We discuss both hypotheses about the specimen origin and assess the systematic position ofE. giganteussp. nov.by examining most of the described species of MadagascanEpactoides. Additionally, we provide a brief overview of the dung beetle fauna of Mascarene Archipelago.