Euonthophagus Balthasar, 1959

Ziani, Stefano, Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud Saleh, Aldhafer, Hathal Mohammed & Barbero, Enrico, 2019, An overview of the Onthophagini from the Arabian Peninsula (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Scarabaeidae), Zootaxa 4658 (1), pp. 1-36 : 6

Genus Euonthophagus Balthasar, 1959

Remarks. Onthophagus carbonarius Klug, 1855 , O. maindroni d’Orbigny, 1898 and O. yemenicus Balthasar, 1946 have been placed in Euonthophagus by Balthasar (1963), probably for the presence on the head of only one transverse carina in male or a middle tubercle in female, not homologous either with the clypeofrontal carina or the occipital one, and located either at the middle of the head or slightly forward of the middle. On the basis of the morphology of the male genital armature, in the first two species at least, this placement does not seem to have a phylogenetic basis. Most probably O. carbonarius and O. maindroni belong to two different phylogenetic groups. Kabakov (2006) inserted O. carbonarius in the subgenus Colobonthophagus Balthasar, 1963 , but not even this nomenclatorial act seems to be satisfactory. The placement of the three species is in great need of further study, and until such time we provisionally leave them in Euonthophagus .