Abstract
The scarab beetles of the subfamily Orphninae Erichson are the most diverse in the tropics (Paulian 1948; Frolov 2012). Yet there are two genera occurring in the Palearctic Region, Hybalus Dejean, 1833 and Chaetonyx Schaum, 1862. Of them, the former is rather speciose and comprises 37 species distributed mostly in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa (Baraud 1991; López-Colón 2006; López Colón & Bahillo de la Puebla 2014; Bezděk 2016). Adult Hybalus are all apterous and most of the species have rather restricted ranges or are known from single localities. The beetles are similar externally and only a few species have distinctive features of the head or anterior legs in males; the most important and, in majority of species, the only reliable character to differentiate species is the shape of the parameres (Petrovitz 1964; Baraud 1991).
References
Baraud, J. (1980) Les Hybalus Brullé de Tunisie. Nouvelle Revue d’Entomologie, 10, 59-62.
Baraud, J. (1991) Révision du genre Hybalus Brullé, 1834 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Orphninae). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, New Series, 27, 3–28.
Bezděk, A. (2016) subfamily Orphninae Erichson, 1847. In: Löbl, I. & Löbl, D. (Eds.), Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Vol. 3. Scarabaeoidea, Scirtoidea, Dascilloidea, Buprestoidea, Byrrhoidea. Brill, Leiden and Boston, pp. 209–210.
Frolov, A.V. (2012) Diagnosis, classification, and phylogenetic relationships of the orphnine scarab beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae: Orphninae). Entomological Review, 92, 782–797.
https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873812070056
Frolov, A.V., Akhmetova, L.A. & Vaz-de-Mello, F.Z. (2017) Revision of the mainland species of the Neotropical genus Aegidium Westwood (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae). Journal of Natural History, 51, 1035–1090.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2017.1319519
Frolov, A.V., Montreuil, O. & Akhmetova, L.A. (2016) Review of the Madagascan Orphninae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) with a revision of the genus Triodontus Westwood. Zootaxa, 4207 (1), 1–93.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4207.1.1
López-Colón, J.I. (2006) Orphninae. In: Löbl, I. & Smetana, A. (Eds.), (Eds.) Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. Apollo Books, Stenstrup, pp. 179–180.
López Colón, J.I. & Bahillo de la Puebla, P. (2014) Dos nuevos Scarabaeidae ibéricos (Coleoptera). Arquivos Entomolóxicos, 10, 193–206
Normand, H. (1936) Contribution au Catalogue des Coléoptères de la Tunisie. Fascicule 10. Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire naturelle de l’Afrique du Nord, 27, 355–383.
Paulian, R. (1948) Révision des Orphnus Africains (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Annales de la Société entomologique de France, 117, 1–75.
Petrovitz, R. (1964) Neue Arten der Gattung Hybalus Brullé. Bulletin de la Société de Sciences Naturelles et Physiques de Maroc, 44, 49–63.