Trox scaber (Linnaeus, 1767)

Trox scaber (Linnaeus, 1767) View in CoL

( Fig. 1A)

SPAIN; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: MISSOURI. This widepread Palaearctic species has spread to the New World and to Australasia ( Pittino & Bezděk, 2016); it has been denoted as subcosmopolitan, among others by Zidek (2013). Besides feeding on animal carcasses, this species is often found in various bird and mammal nests and burrows (e.g. Vaurie, 1955; Hicks, 1959). Trox scaber has been recorded from caves in both Western Europe and North America ( Gardner, 1986; Tinaut et al., 2008; Pérez et al., 2011). We call into question the categorisation by Slay et al. (2012) of this species being only accidentally in caves; these authors overlooked the reports from Europe.