Heliocopris (large dung beetles) is a genus of Scarabaeidae or scarab beetles in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea."Heliocopris" Nomen.at, Dictionary of Common (Vernacular) Names"Heliocopris" Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)"Heliocopris" National Center for Biotechnology Information Forty-seven of the fifty-two known species are found in Africa, but a few are found in southern and southeast Asia."Occurrence search: Genus: Heliocopris" National Center for Biotechnology Information
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 long, although a more typical size for the members of this genus is . They are generally black or dark brown beetles where males tend to have horns on their head or pronotum, which females lack. 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.
Heliocopris has been placed in the tribe Dichotomiini, but Montreuil places them in Coprini.
Species The genus Heliocopris includes the following species:"Heliocopris" Encyclopedia of Life
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
Notes
Further reading Pokorný, Svatopluk; Zídek, Jiří and Werner, Karl (2009) Giant dung beetles of the genus Heliocopris (Scarabaeidae) Taita Publishers, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic,