Coprini


Coprini is a tribe of scarab beetles, in the dung beetle subfamily. Scholtz et al. describe them as tunnellers that are shiny black, of moderate to large size and with a strongly convex shape. They also, however state that the grouping based on these characteristics has little phylogenetic validity, and the placement of several genera in this and related tribes is likely to change.

Taxonomy

This tribe comprises more than 900 species in 21 genera:

Genera

These genera belong to the tribe Coprini:

Ecology

Most species are nocturnal. They are predominantly coprophagous, but some are necrophagous. Dung is rapidly buried in shallow tunnels and then used for nest construction in deeper tunnels.