A taxonomic review of the genus Isocopris Pereira and Martínez, 1960 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), with description of a new Brazilian species

ABSTRACT

The genus Isocopris Pereira and Martínez, 1960 is revised, with the description of Isocopris xacriaba, a new species from Minas Gerais, Brazil. All the known Dichotomius with eight antennal segments were re-examined and assigned to the genus Isocopris. Dichotomius hypocrita, D. imitator and D. nitidus are resurrected from synonymy and placed in the genus Isocopris. Dichotomius latistriatus is considered to be a junior synonym of I. imitator, while Pinotus nitidus australis is considered to be a valid species name under a new status and combination (currently Dichotomius (D.) australis). An illustrated identification key and descriptions of the Isocopris species are provided, along with nomenclatural and taxonomic notes.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8F7F824F-057A-41FE-956E-E0A633BCA3A5

KEYWORDS:

• Dichotomiini
• Dichotomius
• eight-segmented antennae
• new combinations
• Minas Gerais

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the curators of the natural history collections who provided us with access and all the needed information to complete our research. We extend our gratitude also to D.J. Mann, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, who revised the English version of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

MR is a PhD student at the University of Urbino supported by a MIUR scholarship (Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca). FZVM is a CNPq fellow and parts of this work were funded by CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico: 304925/2010-1, 454152/2011-6, 302997/2013-0, 202327/2013-2, 484035/2013-4, 405697/2013-9, 440604/2015-0, 306745/2016-0) and FAPEMAT/CNPq PRONEM 568005/2014. The visit of FZVM at the Museum für Tierkunde of Dresden was partially financed by the ISYEB, UMR 7205 CNRS/MNHN. Furthermore, parts of this work were granted by the Synthesys Project (http://synthesys3.myspecies.info/), which is financed by the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 (FZVM: GB-TAF-3855).