zoology

Colorado Scarab Survey

Colorado Scarab Survey

The latest scientific catalog of beetles occurring in Colorado was published in 1902. Baseline information on the biodiversity of Colorado’s beetle fauna is rather insufficient, considering the ongoing human population growth in the state, habitat degradation, and climate change. In 2007, Frank Krell, PhD, and his team at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science started an ongoing statewide collecting program of scarab beetles in Colorado—the Colorado Scarab Survey. Scarab beetles comprise June bugs, dung beetles, Japanese beetles, and the like. We expect around 300 species to be present in the state. The aim of the survey is to produce a monograph of Colorado scarabs with keys, illustrations, natural history information, and distribution maps for all species, complemented by regular updates on this web page. An initial published compilation of the scattered literature records on the Colorado scarab fauna will serve as the baseline information for the survey.

First paper from the survey

The first larger manuscript resulting from the Colorado Scarab Survey is about to be submitted. It will present the distribution of over 20 species in Colorado, ten of them first records for the state. It will also contain the results of my Japanese Beetle Survey.

Publications

Krell, F.-T., Knight, J.B., Hammon, R., Wheeler, P., Roberts, J.J. & Eckberg, J.R. 2015. Northern range extension of the figeater beetle, Cotinis mutabilis (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae), into Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. Western North American Naturalist 75 (1): 8–13. DOI: 10.3398/064.075.0103

Miraldo, A., Krell, F.-T., Smalén, M., Angus, R.B. & Roslin, T. 2014. Making the cryptic visible - resolving the species complex of Aphodius fimetarius (Linnaeus, 1758) and Aphodius pedellus (de Geer, 1774) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) by three complementary methods. Systematic Entomology 39: 531–547. DOI: 10.1111/syen.12079

Krell, F.-T. 2010. Catalogue of Colorado scarab and stag beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea), based on literature records. Denver Museum of Nature & Science Technical Report 2010-4: 84 pp.

Staff

Frank-Thorsten Krell, PhD

Senior Curator of Entomology

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