The Taxonomic Revolution of New World dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Ecology and Evolution

Fernando Z. Vaz-de-Mello¹  Mario Cupello²  Fernando A. B. Silva³ 

[1] Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil;Laboratório de Sistemática e Bioecologia de Coleoptera, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil;Unidade Acadêmica de Serra Talhada, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Serra Talhada, PE, Brazil;

关键词: systematics;    Neotropical;    Nearctic;    scarabs;    catalogue;    taxonomic revision;    taxonomic monograph;    phylogenetics;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fevo.2023.1168754

 received in 2023-02-18, accepted in 2023-07-04,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

After almost two decades of stagnation, the taxonomy of the New World Scarabaeinae dung beetles has since 1988 been going through a period of great effervescence. In the last 35 years, 81 complete revisions and 69 supplements have been produced by 86 authors based in 15 countries, addressing the taxonomic status of 950 species. This is what we christen as the Taxonomic Revolution of New World dung beetles. We review the history and products of this revolution, explore its causes and its apparent exceptionalism among most other New World Coleoptera groups, and point to the many great challenges that still face the scarabaeine taxonomists. An aspect of interest to ecologists is the coevolution of the Taxonomic Revolution with what we call the Ecological Revolution of dung beetles, i.e., the similar expansion in ecological studies about these organisms. We argue that it has been the continuous feedback between these two simultaneous processes that has enabled each of them to exist and flourish: without the Ecological Revolution, the Taxonomic Revolution could not have existed, and vice-versa. Ecologists and taxonomists are partners in the scientific enterprise, symbionts one may say.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Cupello, Silva and Vaz-de-Mello