title: Gymnopleurini
text: # Gymnopleurini
  
  Gymnopleurini is a tribe of scarab beetles, in the dung beetle subfamily (Scarabaeinae), but it may now be combined with the Scarabaeini. The side edge of each elytron (hardened fore-wing protecting the hind-wing) has a characteristic shape that exposed the underlying pleural sclerites (side plates of the abdomen). Relative to other dung beetles they are of moderate size (10–18 mm long).
  
  ## Ecology
  
  All species fly during the day (diurnal). They are probably all ball-rollers: a ball is fashioned from the dung, and rolled away from it, either by a single beetle or a pair of beetles. A short tunnel is dug in the soil, and the ball is buried at the end of it. After reworking the ball, the female lays an egg in a depression in the ball, and covers it with dung. The brood is then abandoned; after hatching, larvae feed on the dung ball.
  
  ## Taxonomy
  
  There are four genera in this tribe:
  
  * Allogymnopleurus
  * Garreta
  * Gymnopleurus
  * Paragymnopleurus
  