Canthon Hoffmannsegg, 1817

Carvalho, Edrielly C., Maldaner, Maria Eduarda, Costa-Silva, Vinicius, Sehn, Heivanice, Franquini, Carol, Campos, Vinicius O., Seba, Vinicius P., Maia, Lais F., Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z. & Franca, Filipe Machado, 2023, Dung beetles from two sustainable-use protected forests in the Brazilian Amazon, Biodiversity Data Journal 11, pp. 96101-96101 : 96101

Canthon Hoffmannsegg, 1817

Notes

This is also a very diverse genus, comprising more than 170 described species ( Halffter and Martinez 1977). Most species are considered copro-necrophagous, although some exhibit predatory behaviour - for example, hunting ants ( Halffter and Matthews 1966) - or use dead insects and millipedes ( Villalobos et al. 1988, Silva et al. 2014), rotten fruits and fungus as food resources ( Vaz-de-Mello 1999). This genus is endemic to the Americas and its distribution ranges from the USA to Uruguay and northern Argentina. Recent revisions have been made for some Canthon subgenera ( Nunes et al. 2018, Nunes et al. 2020). Typically, these species are abundant in lowland forest environments, with individuals found perching on leaves exposed to light ( Nunes et al. 2018). Another important point to be discussed is the population of Canthon fulgidus Redtenbacher, 1868 with green colour living in eastern Amazonia. According to Nunes et al. (2018), the population with green colour, named Canthon fulgidus martinezi Nunes et al., 2018, is restricted to the western Amazon, while the populations from Carajás and Tapapós regions were expected to have a red metallic colour (named by the authors as Canthon fulgidus pereirai Nunes et al., 2018). This new finding (both green and red populations collected in the same region) suggests that Nunes et al. (2018) may have overlooked the green specimens from eastern Amazonia, as previously mentioned by Cupello et al. (2021), who discuss the colour variation and geographical distribution of distinct Scarabaeinae beetles. For the identification of species, the following works were mainly used: Nunes et al. (2018), Nunes et al. (2020). Nine species were identified: Canthon aff. histrio , C. aff. sericatus , C. aff. xanthopus , C. conformis Harold, 1868, C. fulgidus Redtenbacher, 1868, C. histrio (Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau & Audinet-Serville, 1828), C. subhyalinus (Rivera-Cervants & Halffter, 1999), C. semiopacus Harold, 1868 and C. triangularis (Drury, 1770) (Fig. 2 J-P).

Figures

Figure 2. Dorsal habitus of dung beetle species collected in the Tapajos National Forest and / or Carajas National Forest A Ateuchus globulus (Balthasar, 1938); B Ateuchus semicupreus (Harold, 1868); C Ateuchus substriatus (Harold, 1868); D Canthidium deyrollei Harold, 1867; E Canthidium melanocephalum (Olivier, 1789); F Canthon conformis Harold, 1868; G Canthon fulgidus Redtenbacher, 1868; M Canthon histrio (Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau & Audinet-Serville, 1828); I Canthon subhyalinus (Rivera-Cervants & Halffter, 1999); J Canthon semiopacus Harold, 1868; L Canthon triangularis (Drury, 1770). Scale bar: 1 mm.