Tesserodoniellini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): Phylogenomic Evidence and Morphological Supports a New Neotropical Dung Beetle Tribe

Tesserodoniellini new tribe, is established to accommodate the Neotropical genus Tesserodoniella Vaz-de-Mello & Halffter, based on phylogenomic evidence and morphological support. The tribal placement of this genus has been uncertain in previous classifications of Scarabaeinae, and it has been treated as incertae sedis at the tribal level. Recent analyses based on ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) recover Tesserodoniella as a highly supported lineage sister to a clade endemic to Australasia, and in a distinct lineage from Deltochilini and Ateuchini. Although until no single unequivocal synapomorphy was identified, the tribe can be diagnosed by a unique morphological combination of characters. The biogeographic implications related to Gondwanan fragmentation are discussed. An illustrated diagnosis, description with characters that define the tribe, natural history, distributional data with a map for the two known Chilean species are given. Also, photographs of the Tesserodoniella elguetai (type species of the genus) and live specimens in your respective natural habitats are provided.