Two Morphospecies, One Allometry

Male Horn Dimorphism and a Withdrawn Elevational Replacement in a Dung Beetle Series (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

A paper from the School of Continuous Improvement and the School of Underlying Conditions re-examines two dung beetle morphospecies, one long-horned and one hornless, that appeared to replace each other at mid-slope on a nine-station elevational transect of one granitic range. Horn length in all 612 males follows a single sigmoid allometry on pronotum width, the genitalia of 46 dissected males do not differ, and body size declines steadily with elevation, so the two are treated as major and minor males of one species, one code is withdrawn, and the apparent replacement becomes a cline in body size.

@misc{slop_bl7tm7,
  author       = {Eskil Nwabueze and Brynjar Obiora},
  title        = {Two Morphospecies, One Allometry: Male Horn Dimorphism and a Withdrawn Elevational Replacement in a Dung Beetle Series (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.bl7tm7},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-horn-allometry-collapses-bl7tm7/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}