Copro-necrophagous beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in urban areas: A global review

The world has become an urban world, more than 50 % of the human population live in cities. The effects of urbanization are diverse, complex and wide; ranging from unbalanced biogeochemical cycles in urban areas, to the local extinction of several species in different cities around the globe. However, diverse biological groups live and thrive in cities adapting to the new and sometimes harsh conditions of urban areas. In an effort to compile and assess the current status of knowledge of copro-necrophagous beetles in urban areas, we performed an extensive search for publications regarding Scarabaeinae beetles in urban areas. We found 27 publication that address four general topics: (1) ecological patterns; (2) disease transmission; (3) conservation biology; and (4) species lists. Although in the last fifteen years it has been published extensively about Scarabaeinae as an indicator group in biodiversity studies and in the analysis of ecosystem functions, references to Scarabaeinae in cities are scarce. In a broad sense, the study of copro-necrophagous beetles in urban areas is in an early stage of advance, providing an opportunity for entomologists to explore their response to urbanization, altogether with the role of these insects as host and intermediates of parasitic diseases, but also, with the environmental services provided by them, like the burial and destruction of a great amount of excrements found in urban soil.