BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE AUSTRALIAN DYNASTINAE, RUTELINAE, SCARABAEINAE, MELOLONTHINI, SCITALINI AND GEOTRUPIDAE (COLEOPTERA, SCARABAEOIDEA)

The relationships between faunas in seventeen areas of Australia were examined for the Dynastinae, Rutelinae, the scarabaeine Coprini, Onthophagini and Scarabaeini, the melolonthine Melolonthini and Scitalini, and Geotrupidae. The distributions of the Rutelinae, Coprini, Onthophagini, Scarabaeini, Melolonthini and Scitalini show strong divisions between the Torresian and Kosciuskan subregions with a slight division of the latter into winter and summer rainfall areas. The Torresian subregion is more strongly separated from the Timorian in the Coprini and Scarabaeini than in the Rutelinae, Onthophagini and Scitalini. The Southwestern subregion shows little relationship to the eastern faunas, but has lease associations with the Eyrean faunas. In the Dynastinae, the major division separates the eastern fauna from the northern, western and inland faunas. Within the east there is a strong winter-summer rainfall division. There is no evidence of a distinct Timorian fauna, or of separate Southwestern and Eyrean subregions. The Geotrupidae shows a distinct separation of the southeastern fauna from those of the northeastern and Torresian-Timorian subregions. Only in the Geotrupidae is there a significant exponential increase in the number of species in an area with increasing size of the area. Differences between groups are attributed to differences in their dependence on plants and vertebrates, their tendency to disperse as adults, their age and dispersal history, and their inherent ability to colonize arid areas.