Coprophanaeus (Megaphanaeus) ensifer ( Germar, 1821 )

Gillett, Conrad P. D. T., Gillett, P. T., E. D. T, James & Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z., 2010, Diversity and distribution of the scarab beetle tribe Phanaeini in the northern states of the Brazilian Northeast (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (118), pp. 1-19 : 9-10

Coprophanaeus (Megaphanaeus) ensifer ( Germar, 1821)

Collection data. Pernambuco: Recife, Dois Irmãos, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco campus, no date (collected most probably in the 1980’s): 2 f; Pernambuco, no date, ( BMNH): 1m.

Alagoas: Maceió, no data: several locally collected specimens seen in July 1994 during a visit to the Federal University of Alagoas. NEW STATE RECORD.

Distribution. The species has been recorded from many states of central and southern Brazil and also in the NE in BA ( Pessôa and Lane 1941; Arnaud 2002a) and PB ( Hernández 2003; Endres et al. 2005,

2007) and recently from PE ( Costa et al. 2009). The species also occurs in Argentina ( Arnaud 2002a), Bolivia (D. Mann personal communication) and Paraguay (specimens in MGCB).

Remarks. This is the largest phanaeine present in the NE. It is a necrophagous species associated with Atlantic forest habitats in PE and PB, although it has also been recorded from cerrado-type areas in PB ( Endres et al. 2005). In central and southern Brazilian regions it is predominantly a species of the cerrado. Endres et al. (2005) did not detect significant bait preference for three different carrion baits during an ecological study but did demonstrate that adults are only active during the rainy season (April to September in PB). All specimens studied by us from PE and AL were of uniform dark metallic green dorsal coloration. A second species of Megaphanaeus Olsoufieff , C. (M.) bellicosus (Olivier) has been recorded to date only from BA in the NE ( Arnaud 2002a). This species is characteristic of the Atlantic forest, occurring elsewhere in the States of Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, São Paolo, Rio de Janeiro and Espíritu Santo ( Pessôa 1934, Arnaud 2002a).