Onthophagus hoepfneri, Harold, 1869

Kohlmann, Bert & Solís, Ángel, 2025, A review of the species groups of the Western Hemisphere Onthophagus Latreille (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) using COI barcoding and gene trees, Zootaxa 5604 (4), pp. 401-447 : 427-428

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5604.4.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6A95109D-6F33-4DE7-9D47-6A722DD26918
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15225841
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AA2362-1479-FF8D-FF28-A850FAA5AFCB
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Onthophagus hoepfneri
status

Treatment

Onthophagus hoepfneri View in CoL species group*.

This group is diagnosed by no male head horns present ( Fig. 5.14 View FIG ); male protibial apex with some sparse short setae subequal to apical spur ( Figs. 1.59 View FIG –66); pronotum with a small pointed or rounded anterior-pronotal projection ( Fig. 5.14 View FIG ); with coarse punctures in metafemur ( Figs. 2.59 View FIG –66).

We propose, based on the barcode and morphological analyses, that this species group includes, at present, besides O. hoepfneri Harold , four more species, O. coscineus, Bates , O. oklahomensis Brown , O. pennsylvanicus Harold , and O. tuberculifrons Harold. Using a phylogenetic analysis, Emlen et al. (2005: fig. 2, bootstrap support of 79) had already obtained a branch formed by O. coscineus and O. pennsylvanicus . At the same time, because of the low support values indicated by the maximum-likelihood tree ( Fig. 8 View FIG ), more species groups might emerge from the O. hoepfneri branch once more species are included. These maximum-likelihood analyses suggest the existence of at least two clades within this species group, one formed by O. coscineus and O. tuberculifrons , another by O. hoepfneri , O. oklahomensis , and O. pennsylvanicus . More specimens are needed to clarify this situation. Boucomont (1932) placed O. hoepfneri in his “8 e Groupe”, which corresponds to the O. landolti species group, and O. oklahomensis , O. pennsylvanicus , and O. tuberculifrons in his “12 e Groupe”; O. coscineus was unassigned.

The relationship of the O. hoepfneri species group with the O. crinitus species group suggested in this study ( Figs. 1–2 View FIG View FIG ) was expected. In another maximum-likelihood genetic analysis, Emlen et al. (2005: fig. 4, Bayesian posterior probability of 99) obtained a branch formed by O. crinitus and O. pennsylvanicus . The Emlen et al. (2005) analysis and the present barcode ( Figs 1–2 View FIG View FIG ) and partition ( Fig. 9 View FIG ) analyses suggest a close relationship between these two groups. Schwery & O'Meara (2021) also recovered a mixed O. hoepfneri – O. crinitus clade with a bootstrap support of 9. The O. hoepfneri species group is distributed from the United States of America to Ecuador.

References

Figures

FIG. 1. Neighbor-joining tree for the Western Hemisphere Onthophagus species, based on K2P genetic distances comparisons between COI-5P mitochondrial barcoding sequences. Figs. 23–25 belong to the O. eulophus species group. Figs. 44 and 63 are not assigned to any species group. The male protibiae of the following species are depicted: 1, O. acuminatus; 2, O. batesi; 3, O. incensus; 4, O. nitidor; 5, O. stockwelli; 6, O. striatulus striatulus; 7, O. tristis; 8, O. basicarinatus; 9, O. hircus; 10, O. marginicollis; 11, O. nyctopus; 12, O. onorei; 13, O. osculati; 14, O. ptox; 15, O. ranunculus; 16, O. atriglabrus; 17, O. genuinus; 18, O. rostratus; 19, O. sharpi; 20, O. tapirus; 21, O. villanuevai; 22, O. violetae; 23, O. anewtoni; 24, O. arnetti; 25, O. browni; 26, O. championi; 27, O. guatemalensis; 28, O. mexicanus; 29, O. cartwrighti; 30, O. velutinus; 31, O. alluvius; 32, O. altivagans; 33, O. anthracinus; 34, O. brachypterus; 35, O. chryses; 36, O. landolti; 37, O. lecontei; 38, O. schaefferi; 39, O. concinnus; 40, O. cynomysi; 41, O. hecate hecate; 42, O. medorensis; 43, O. orpheus orpheus; 44, O. polyphemi sparsisetosus; 45, O. chevrolati; 46, O. cyanellus, 47, O. hippopotamus; 48, O. oaxacanus; 49, O. reyesi; 50, O. salvadorensis; 51, O. sanpabloetlorum; 52, O. skelleyi; 53, O. subtropicus; 54, O. totonicapanus; 55, O. vespertilio; 56, O. crinitus; 57, O. gazellinus; 58, O. onthochromus; 59, O. aciculatulus; 60, O. coscineus; 61, O. hoepfneri; 62, O. igualensis; 63, O. lebasi; 64, O. pennsylvanicus; 65, O. subanaeus; 66, tuberculifrons; 67, O. barreti; 68, O.breviconus; 69, O. contrapositus; 70, O. dicranius; 71, O. dorsipilulus; 72, O. humboldti; 73, O. kohlmanni; 74, O. micropterus; 75, O. neomirabilis; 76, O. orphnoides; 77, O. petenensis; 78, O. subcancer; 79, O. andersoni; 80, O. belorhinus; 81, O. grataehelenae; 82, O. limonensis; 83, O. maya; 84, O. praecellens; 85, O. propraecellens; 86, O. rhinolophus; 87, O. rhinophyllus; 88, undescribed species of Onthophagus; 89, O. viridivinosus; 90, O. xanthomerus. See Table 2 for an explanation of the specimen codes. See Table 7 for the author names of the species listed.

FIG. 2. A summarized neighbor-joining tree for Western Hemisphere Onthophagus species, based on K2P genetic distances comparisons between COI-5P mitochondrial barcoding sequences. Figs. 23–25 belong to the O. eulophus species group. Figs. 44 and 63 are not assigned to any group. The male metafemora of the following species are depicted: 1, O. acuminatus; 2, O. batesi; 3, O. incensus; 4, O. nitidor; 5, O. stockwelli; 6, O. striatulus striatulus; 7, O. tristis; 8, O. basicarinatus; 9, O. hircus; 10, O. marginicollis; 11, O. nyctopus; 12, O. onorei; 13, O. osculati; 14, O. ptox; 15, O. ranunculus; 16, O. atriglabrus; 17, O. genuinus; 18, O. rostratus; 19, O. sharpi; 20, O. tapirus; 21, O. villanuevai; 22, O. violetae; 23, O. anewtoni; 24, O. arnetti; 25, O. browni; 26, O. championi; 27, O. guatemalensis; 28, O. mexicanus; 29, O. cartwrighti; 30, O. velutinus; 31, O. alluvius; 32, O. altivagans; 33, O. anthracinus; 34, O. brachypterus; 35, O. chryses; 36, O. landolti; 37, O. lecontei; 38, O. schaefferi; 39, O. concinnus; 40, O. cynomysi; 41, O. hecate hecate; 42, O. medorensis; 43, O. orpheus orpheus; 44, O. polyphemi sparsisetosus; 45, O. chevrolati; 46, O. cyanellus, 47, O. hippopotamus; 48, O. oaxacanus; 49, O. reyesi; 50, O. salvadorensis; 51, O. sanpabloetlorum; 52, O. skelleyi; 53, O. subtropicus; 54, O. totonicapanus; 55, O. vespertilio; 56, O. crinitus; 57, O. gazellinus; 58, O. onthochromus; 59, O. aciculatulus; 60, O. coscineus; 61, O. hoepfneri; 62, O. igualensis; 63, O. lebasi; 64, O. pennsylvanicus; 65, O. subanaeus; 66, tuberculifrons; 67, O. barreti; 68, O.breviconus; 69, O. contrapositus; 70, O. dicranius; 71, O. dorsipilulus; 72, O. humboldti; 73, O. kohlmanni; 74, O. micropterus; 75, O. neomirabilis; 76, O. orphnoides; 77, O. petenensis; 78, O. subcancer; 79, O. andersoni; 80, O. belorhinus; 81, O. grataehelenae; 82, O. limonensis; 83, O. maya; 84, O. praecellens; 85, O. propraecellens; 86, O. rhinolophus; 87, O. rhinophyllus; 88, undescribed species of Onthophagus; 89, O. viridivinosus; 90, O. xanthomerus. See Table 2 for an explanation of the specimen codes. See Table 7 for the author names of the species listed.