Research Assistant Cleveland Museum of Natural History Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Australia is among the most biodiverse countries in the world. Up to 10% of the world’s plants and animals are Australian, yet an estimated 50% of species remain undescribed on the continent. Australia’s native dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) arise from two distinct lineages and account for about 7.5% of the worldwide diversity of scarabaeines. Among dung beetle genera, the cosmopolitan Onthophagus Latreille, 1802 is the most diverse lineage, representing over 2,300 described species worldwide. There are currently 203 Onthophagus species known in Australia, but the group is underworked and in great need of focused study. Cryptic species likely represent a substantial fraction of Australian Onthophagus biodiversity. In order to take the first of many necessary steps in detecting and describing the diversity of Australian Onthophagus, this work uses gene barcoding of the COI (cytochrome oxidase I) to aid in the delimitation of species boundaries by assessing intra- and inter-specific variation.
