RES Handbook Vol 5 Part 11. Dung Beetles & chafers - Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea

The superfamily Scarabaeoidea forms a clear-cut natural group within Coleoptera that has been recognized since the earliest days of systematic zoology. The large size or bright coloration of many species together with the unusual ecology of the dung feeders has attracted attention from collectors, naturalists, ecologists and taxonomists, and the European fauna in particular has been extensively studied. The distribution and natural history of the British species were already well known by the time of Fowler (1890), and the information he gave on these aspects is in many cases not substantially different from that given in the present work.