Onthophagus crinitus

Onthophagus crinitus species group*. This group is diagnosed by the male having no clypeal horn and with two curved horns at the vertex (Fig. 5.6); male protibia apex with a tuft of long setae (Fig. 1.56); metafemur long and slender, bicolored, dark brown at apices and light brown at the center (Fig. 2.56); long dorsal pubescence. Based on external morphology and genitalia, Rossini et al. (2018a) proposed that O. crinitus Harold is related to the O. gazellinus species group. The present mtDNA barcode study (Figs. 1–2) and the gene tree analyses (Figs. 8–9) weakly support this genital morphology-based proposal (clade node value of 9). Boucomont (1932), in his Onthophagus species groups study, established a “6 e Groupe” composed of O. crinitus and O. lebasi Boucomont. According to him, this group is characterized by setose species with long pubescence and the male having long and slender protibiae. Subsequently, Zunino & Halffter (1997) considered O. lebasi a member of the O. landolti species group. The maximum-likelihood analyses (Figs. 8–9) suggest that O. lebasi represents an indepent clade with a weak relation to Eastern Hemispheric species. The O. crinitus species group is distributed from Mexico to Colombia.