Versicorpus
Encyclopedia
Versicorpus is a genus of Scarabaeidae
Scarabaeidae
The family Scarabaeidae as currently defined consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide. The species in this large family are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family is fairly unstable, with numerous competing theories, and new proposals appearing quite...

 or scarab beetles in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea
Scarabaeoidea
Scarabaeoidea is a superfamily of beetles, the only subgroup of the infraorder Scarabaeiformia. Around 35,000 species are placed in this superfamily and some 200 new species are described each year...

. Versicorpus is endemic to Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 and is only found at the Mount Erongo
Mount Erongo
Mount Erongo is a mountain of 2,350 metres northeast of Swakopmund in Erongo Region, Namibia....

. This is a monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 with only one species, Versicorpus erongoensis.

Versicorpus probably live in close association with rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis Pallas). These Hyraxes have communal toilets or dung middens. These middens are probably a stable and dependable food source for Versicorpus in a resource scarce environment. Versicorpus erongoensis is a flightless dung beetle that is probably closely related to Dicranocara
Dicranocara
Dicranocara is a genus of Scarabaeidae or scarab beetles in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea. Dicranocara is endemic to the Richtersveld National Park. Three species are known, D. deschodti Frolov and Scholtz, D. tatasensis Deschodt and Scholtz and D. inexpectata Deschodt and Scholtz. Only D...

Deschodt & Scholtz and Namakwanus
Namakwanus
Namakwanus is a genus of Scarabaeidae or scarab beetles in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea....

Scholtz & Howden.
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