Glaresis

Glaresis is a genus of beetles, sometimes called "enigmatic scarab beetles", in its own family, the Glaresidae. It is closely related to, and was formerly included in, the family Scarabaeidae. Although its members occur in arid and sandy areas worldwide (except Australia), only the nocturnal adults have ever been collected (typically at lights), and both the larvae and biology of Glaresis are as yet unknown. Due to their narrow habitat associations, a great number of these species occur in extremely limited geographic areas, and are accordingly imperiled by habitat destruction.

Glaresis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Suborder: Polyphaga
Infraorder: Scarabaeiformia
Superfamily: Scarabaeoidea
Family: Glaresidae
Semenov-Tian-Shansky & Medvedev, 1932
Genus: Glaresis
Erichson, 1848
Species

About 50; see text

These beetles are small, 2.5–6 mm long, and have the stocky appearance typical of fossorial scarabs, with short, heavy, spurred legs. Color ranges from tan to dark brown, and the back is covered with short setae.

Efforts to raise glaresids in the laboratory were undertaken in the 1980s by C. H. Scholtz and others, but were unsuccessful.

Glaresis was originally classified with Trogidae (originally a subfamily within Scarabaeidae), and has many characteristics of "primitive" scarabaeoids, but no affinities to any of the other primitive groups; recent work suggests that they may in fact belong in Trogidae. Scholtz argued that Glaresis is the most primitive type of scarabaeoid, but more recent research indicates that the Pleocomidae hold this position. The species in North, Central, and South America have been revised by Robert Gordon and Guy Hanley, January 2014, in the journal Insecta Mundi.[1]

Species
  • Glaresis alfierii
  • Glaresis arenata
  • Glaresis beckeri
  • Glaresis canadensis
  • Glaresis carthagensis
  • Glaresis cartwrighti
  • Glaresis ceballosi
  • Glaresis celiae
  • Glaresis clypeata
  • Glaresis confusa
  • Glaresis contrerasi
  • Glaresis dakotensis
  • Glaresis desperata
  • Glaresis ecostata
  • Glaresis exasperata
  • Glaresis foveolata
  • Glaresis freyi
  • Glaresis fritzi
  • Glaresis frustrata
  • Glaresis gineri
  • Glaresis gordoni
  • Glaresis handlirschi
  • Glaresis hispana
  • Glaresis holmi
  • Glaresis howdeni
  • Glaresis impressicollis
  • Glaresis inducta
  • Glaresis japanensis
  • Glaresis kocheri
  • Glaresis koenigsbaueri
  • Glaresis longisternum
  • Glaresis lomii
  • Glaresis mandibularis
  • Glaresis maroccana
  • Glaresis mauritanica
  • Glaresis medialis
  • Glaresis mendica
  • Glaresis methneri
  • Glaresis minuta
  • Glaresis namibensis
  • Glaresis penrithae
  • Glaresis oxiana
  • Glaresis pardoi
  • Glaresis pardoalcaidei
  • Glaresis phoenicis
  • Glaresis porrecta
  • Glaresis quedenfeldti
  • Glaresis rufa
  • Glaresis texana
  • Glaresis thiniensis
  • Glaresis tripolitana
  • Glaresis villiersi
  • Glaresis walzlae
  • Glaresis zarudniana
  • Glaresis zvirgzdinsi
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References
  1. R.D. Gordon and G.A. Hanley (2014). "Systematic revision of American Glaresidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea)". Insecta Mundi. 0333: 1–91.
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