Heliocopris

{{Short description|Genus of beetles}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Heliocoprisdominus (2).JPG | image_caption = ''Heliocopris dominus'' | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Heliocopris | authority = Hope, 1837 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}

'''''Heliocopris''''' ('''large dung beetles''') is a genus of Scarabaeidae or scarab beetles in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea.<ref>[http://nomen.at/Heliocopris "''Heliocopris''"] Nomen.at, Dictionary of Common (Vernacular) Names</ref><ref name="GBIF">[https://www.gbif.org/species/search?q=Heliocopris&dataset_key=d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c&rank=GENUS&rank=SPECIES&status=ACCEPTED "''Heliocopris''"] Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)</ref><ref>[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Tree&id=205296 "''Heliocopris''"] National Center for Biotechnology Information</ref> Forty-seven of the fifty-two known species are found in Africa,<ref name="GBIF" /> but a few are found in southern and southeast Asia.<ref>[http://data.gbif.org/occurrences/searchCountries.htm?c[0].s=20&c[0].p=0&c[0].o=13212174 "Occurrence search: Genus: ''Heliocopris''"] National Center for Biotechnology Information</ref>

''Heliocopris'' includes some of the world's largest dung beetles (their size only rivalled by certain ''Catharsius'' and ''Coprophanaeus''), with ''H. anderson'', ''H. colossus'', ''H. dilloni'', ''H. dominus'', ''H. gigas'' and ''H. tyrannus'' reaching up to about {{cvt|7|cm}} long, although a more typical size for the members of this genus is {{cvt|3-5|cm}}.<ref name=LeTirant2017>{{cite journal| last1=Le Tirant | first1=S. | last2=Limoges | first2=R. | year=2017 | title=Collecting the planet's largest dung beetles: genus Helocopris Hope, 1837 (Coeloptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) | journal=Scarabs | volume=83 | pages=8–11 }}</ref> They are generally black or dark brown beetles where males tend to have horns on their head or pronotum, which females lack.<ref name=LeTirant2017/> Some are associated with the dung of elephants, rhinos or hippos, but there are large variations among the species in the genus and dung from other animals, like domestic cattle or monkeys, is also used. The female lays her eggs in a tunnel she digs under the excrement.<ref name=LeTirant2017/>

''Heliocopris'' has been placed in the tribe Dichotomiini, but Montreuil places them in Coprini.{{Cite journal|author=Montreuil, Olivier |year=1998 |title=Analyse phylogénétique et paraphylie des Coprini et Dichotomiini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Scénario biogéographique |journal=Annales de la Société Entomologique de France |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=135–148|doi=10.1080/21686351.1998.12277767 |s2cid=82053231 }}

==Species== The genus ''Heliocopris'' includes the following species:<ref>[http://www.eol.org/pages/17159 "''Heliocopris''"] ''Encyclopedia of Life''</ref> {{div col|colwidth=18em}} *''Heliocopris alatus'' Felsche, 1910 *''Heliocopris anadematus'' Gillet, 1908 *''Heliocopris andersoni'' Bates, 1868 *''Heliocopris anguliceps'' Janssens, 1943 *''Heliocopris antenor'' (Olivier, 1789) *''Heliocopris ares'' Philippe, Minetti, 2022 *''Heliocopris atropos'' Boheman, 1860 *''Heliocopris beccarii'' Harold, 1871 *''Heliocopris biimpressus'' Kolbe, 1893 *''Heliocopris bucephalus'' (Fabricius, 1775) *''Heliocopris camerunus'' Pokorny & Zidek, 2009 *''Heliocopris colossus'' Bates, 1868 *''Heliocopris corniculatus'' Janssens, 1939 *''Heliocopris coronatus'' Felsche, 1901 *''Heliocopris cuneifer'' Lesne, 1906 *''Heliocopris densissa'' Roth, 1851 *''Heliocopris dianae'' Hope, 1842 *''Heliocopris dilloni'' Guérin-Méneville, 1847 *''Heliocopris dolosus'' Janssens, 1939 *''Heliocopris dominus'' Bates, 1868 *''Heliocopris erycoides'' Felsche, 1907 *''Heliocopris eryx'' (Fabricius, 1801) *''Heliocopris faunus'' Boheman, 1857 *''Heliocopris felschei'' Kolbe, 1904 *''Heliocopris fonsecai'' Ferreira, 1967 *''Heliocopris furcithorax'' Müller, 1941 *''Heliocopris gigas'' (Linnaeus, 1758) *''Heliocopris hamadryas'' (Fabricius, 1775) *''Heliocopris hamifer'' Harold, 1878 *''Heliocopris haroldi'' Kolbe, 1893 *''Heliocopris helleri'' Felsche, 1907 *''Heliocopris hermes'' Gillet, 1911 *''Heliocopris hunteri'' Waterhouse, 1891 *''Heliocopris japetus'' Klug, 1855 *''Heliocopris kolbei'' Felsche, 1901 *''Heliocopris marshalli'' Péringuey, 1901 *''Heliocopris midas'' (Fabricius, 1775) *''Heliocopris mimus'' Janssens, 1939 *''Heliocopris minos'' Gillet, 1907 *''Heliocopris mutabilis'' Kolbe, 1893 *''Heliocopris myrmidon'' Kolbe, 1893 *''Heliocopris neptuniformis'' Felsche, 1907 *''Heliocopris neptunoides'' Janssens, 1939 *''Heliocopris neptunus'' Boheman, 1857 *''Heliocopris pauliani'' Janssens, 1939 *''Heliocopris pirmal'' (Fabricius, 1798) *''Heliocopris quinqueangulatus'' Janssens, 1939 *''Heliocopris samson'' Harold, 1878 *''Heliocopris sirius'' Gillet, 1925 *''Heliocopris solitarius'' Kolbe, 1893 *''Heliocopris staudingeri'' Kolbe, 1893 *''Heliocopris sylvanus'' Gillet, 1925 *''Heliocopris tyrannus'' Thomson, 1859 {{div col end}}

<gallery> File:Giant Dung Beetle (Heliocopris andersoni) big male (11621185084).jpg|''Heliocopris andersoni'' File:Heliocopris colossus Bates, 1868 male (3052104815).jpg|''Heliocopris colossus'' File:Heliocopris japetus Klug, 1855 male (3303706075) (2).jpg|''Heliocopris japetus'' </gallery>

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Pokorný, Svatopluk; Zídek, Jiří and Werner, Karl (2009) ''Giant dung beetles of the genus Heliocopris (Scarabaeidae)'' Taita Publishers, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, {{ISBN|978-80-902734-0-5}}

Category:Heliocopris Category:Taxa named by Frederick William Hope Category:Scarabaeidae genera