Description of male and habitat of Haroldius turnai Král (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Abstract

The small-sized genus Haroldius Boucomont, 1914 consists of 38 known species widely distributed in the Old World including South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa (Pereira 1954; Krikken & Huijbregts 2006; Král & Hájek 2012). Members of this genus are probably saprophagous or mycophagous (Scheuern 1995) and so far were collected by light traps, sifted from leaf litter or soil and captured by flight interception traps (Paulian 1939; Paulian & Scheuern 1994; Krikken & Huijbregts 2006). Some researches suggested that they could have precise ecological relationship with ants. Their myrmecophily habit was indicated mainly by the special morphological characters including smooth body and the characteristically broad­ened and flattened tibiae (Pereira 1954; Krell & Philips 2010). However, their bi­ology are still rarely reported, and the larvae are still unknown (Pereira 1954; Krikken & Huijbregts 2006).