The passalid beetles (Coleoptera:Scarabaeoidea: Passalidae) from Caribbean region of Colombia

The beetle family Passalidae comprises about 680 described species, most of them distributed in the tropical and temperate-humid zones of the world, especially in humid environments. Passalidae are subsocial insects, that live and eat rotting logs and some species of the genus Ptichopus occur in the detritus of ant leaf cut, allowing a fast incorporation of organic matter in the nutrient cycles. In Colombia have been recorded about 65 species from humid, rain and dry forests of low lands to high mountain forests, with the upper altitudinal limit near to 3000m. In the last years, many studies have been made in this family but related only with humid environments and neglecting the dry forests. Surveys of some regions of the country, like the Caribbean region, are very few and the knowledge about these organisms is scanty. This work study the Passalidae fauna of the Colombian Caribbean region makes contributions to their taxonomic, biogeography and systematic knowledge. 21 localities ...