Gymnopleurini

Gymnopleurini is a tribe of scarab beetles, in the dung beetle subfamily (Scarabaeinae),^[1] but it may now be combined with the Scarabaeini.^[2] The side edge of each elytron (hardened fore-wing protecting the hind-wing) has a characteristic shape that exposed the underlying pleural sclerites (side plates of the abdomen). Relative to other dung beetles they are of moderate size (10–18 mm long).^[1]

Gymnopleurini
Garreta unicolor on a ball of rhinoceros dung
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Scarabaeiformia
Family:	Scarabaeidae
Subfamily:	Scarabaeinae
Tribe:	Gymnopleurini Lacordaire, 1856

Ecology

All species fly during the day (diurnal). They are probably all ball-rollers: a ball is fashioned from the dung, and rolled away from it, either by a single beetle or a pair of beetles. A short tunnel is dug in the soil, and the ball is buried at the end of it. After reworking the ball, the female lays an egg in a depression in the ball, and covers it with dung. The brood is then abandoned; after hatching, larvae feed on the dung ball.^[1]

Taxonomy

There are four genera in this tribe:

• Allogymnopleurus
• Garreta
• Gymnopleurus
• Paragymnopleurus