| Geotrupidae | |
|---|---|
| Geotrupes egeriei | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Scarabaeiformia |
| Superfamily: | Scarabaeoidea |
| Family: | Geotrupidae Latreille, 1802 |
| Genera | |
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25 see text. |
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Geotrupidae (from Greek geos , earth, and trypetes, borer) is a family of beetles in the order Coleoptera. They are commonly called dor beetles or earth-boring dung beetles. Most excavate burrows in which to lay their eggs. They are typically detrivores, provisioning their nests with leaf litter (often moldy), but are occasionally coprophagous, similar to dung beetles. The eggs are laid in or upon the provision mass and buried, and the developing larvae feed upon the provisions. The burrows of some species can exceed 2 metres in depth.
A few species communicate by stridulation (rubbing body parts together to make sounds).
They were originally classified as the subfamily Geotrupinae in the family Scarabaeidae before being elevated to a family. Traditionally the family Bolboceratidae was included (as the subfamily Bolboceratinae) on the basis of the number of antenna segments, but examination of a different set of characteristics prompted Scholtz & Browne (1995) to elevate Bolboceratidae to a family.
The family has more than 600 species in about 30 genera in three subfamilies.