Extinct before discovered? Epactoides giganteus sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae), the first native dung beetle to Réunion island

Autor: Olivier Montreuil, Fernando Z. Vaz-de-Mello, Sergei Tarasov, Nicholas Porch, Michele Rossini
Přispěvatelé: Zoology
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Malagasy region
0106 biological sciences
Polyphaga
Insecta
Fauna
DIVERSITY
Scarabaeidae
01 natural sciences
DISPERSAL
Genus
Epilissini
Scarabaeinae
Invertebrata
Dung beetle
0303 health sciences
Nicolas Breon
geography.geographical_feature_category
biology
Cenozoic
Nicolas Bréon
extinction
Hexapoda
over-water dispersal
Biota
Coleoptera
Geography
Biogeography
1181 Ecology
evolutionary biology
Archipelago
Dung beetles
Research Article
Arthropoda
CONSERVATION
Zoology
Mascarene Archipelago
010603 evolutionary biology
03 medical and health sciences
Indian Ocean Islands
Systematics
Biodiversity & Conservation
Madagascar
Animalia
Scarabaeoidea
Ecology
Evolution
Behavior and Systematics
030304 developmental biology
Holotype
Epactoides
biology.organism_classification
QL1-991
Africa
Biological dispersal
Animal Science and Zoology
Reunion
Zdroj: ZooKeys, Vol 1061, Iss, Pp 75-86 (2021)
ZooKeys
ZooKeys 1061: 75-86
ISSN: 1313-2970
1313-2989
DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1061.70130
Popis: We describe a new species of dung beetle,Epactoides giganteussp. nov., from a single female specimen allegedly collected in the 19thcentury on Réunion island and recently found at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. This species differs from other species ofEpactoidesby larger size and a set of other distinctive morphological characters.Epactoides giganteussp. nov.is the first native dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) of Réunion, and its discovery expands the known area of distribution of the genusEpactoides, which was hitherto believed to be endemic to Madagascar. Like other taxa from Madagascar and peripheral islands (e.g., Comoro, Seychelles, Mascarenes),E. giganteussp. nov.may have reached Réunion by over-water dispersal. Given the rapid loss of biodiversity on Réunion island and the fact that no additional specimens were re-collected over the last two centuries, it is very likely thatE. giganteussp. nov.has gone extinct. However, we have unconfirmed evidence that the holotype ofE. giganteussp. nov.might be a mislabeled specimen from Madagascar, which would refute the presence of native dung beetles on Réunion. We discuss both hypotheses about the specimen origin and assess the systematic position ofE. giganteussp. nov.by examining most of the described species of MadagascanEpactoides. Additionally, we provide a brief overview of the dung beetle fauna of Mascarene Archipelago.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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