Eleodes
Tenebrionids are often the most conspicuous part of the invertebrate fauna in the world’s deserts. Indeed, any visitor to the western United States or Mexico is likely to have encountered specimens from the widespread genus Eleodes Eschscholtz, which are commonly known as stink beetles, circus beetles, or pinacate beetles (from the Nahuatl word, pinacatl meaning “black beetle”). One may expect that such large (specimens are general 10-55mm in length) commonly encountered beetles would be well known and easily identified. However, nearly 200 species of Eleodes are currently recognized as valid, with even more awaiting discovery, and many species can easily be confused with each other. This, along with a high degree of phenotypic plasticity, has led to a profusion of taxonomic names (~395) within the genus. The following taxonomic list, primarily assembled by Dr. Rolf Aalbu, contains all of the currently valid species names. The addition synonyms and taxon names histories is ongoing and should be completed soon.
There are two ways to locate Eleodes Taxon Pages. You can use the Search function (user-specified text) or Browse the displayed taxa and their subgroups.
About searches and results. Taxon Pages with various amounts of content are returned for all taxa listed under the Browse option. The Search option returns either a taxon page (where available) or a report with nomenclatural details for all taxonomic names now entered in our database. When a taxonomic name is associated with more than one taxon (ie., differing concepts), the Search option will return a disambiguation page allowing for the further selection among possible taxon pages. Taxon pages and nomenclatural data for the species group, now in preparation, will eventually be accessible under the valid genus (Browse option) or directly through the Search option. To locate a name quickly in the Browse option, use the find option of your browser [Control or Command + F]. The Taxon Pages are a dynamic work in progress. Please contact us to pose suggestions or corrections.
About this search: You are searching through the nomenclature in this project. When a taxonomic name record is associated 1:1 with a taxon page the search result will direct you to that taxon page. When the taxonomic name is not associated with a taxon page a report with nomenclatural details of the search result is returned. When a taxonomic name record is associated with many taxon pages (e.g. differing concepts) the search result returns a disambiguation page allowing for the furter selection of possible taxon pages.