Museum, University of Nebraska State

 

Title

Book Review: Fauna Iberica, Volume 14: Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea I. (Martin-Piera, F. and J. I. Lopez-Colon)

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

February 2001

Comments

Published in The Coleopterists Bulletin, 55(1):124, 2001. Copyright © 2001 by Brett C. Ratcliffe. Used by permission.

Abstract

At over 500 pages, this is only the first volume of a probable three volume Spanish language treatment of the Scarabaeoidea of the Iberian peninsula. Volume one is a comprehensive and detailed piece of work in the grand tradition of faunas and floras. This first volume treats all of the "lower" scarabaeoids (Laparosticti) except for the Aphodiidae and Aegialiidae, which will appear in the next scarabaeoid volume. The third volume will treat the "higher" scarabs (Pleurosticti).

The book begins with a brief overview of the morphology and life cycle of scarabaeoids followed by a discussion on various relationship hypotheses of families/subfamilies. A short commentary follows detailing the principal classification schemes, historical and current, that have been proposed for scarabaeoids. For the Iberian fauna, the authors recognize the following families: Glaresidae, Lucanidae, Trogidae, Geotrupidae, Ochodaeidae, Hybosoridae, Glaphyridae, Aegialiidae, Aphodiidae, Scarabaeidae (dung beetles), Orphnidae, Melolonthidae, Rutelidae, Dynastidae, and Cetoniidae. As is typical of most European approaches, the principal subfamilies of Scarabaeidae recognized by American workers and Lawrence and Newton's 1995 classification have been elevated to family rank. Illustrated keys to the adults and larvae of Iberian families of scarabaeoids are the gateway to the traditional synopsis for each of the families and their tribes (where appropriate), genera, and species.