A taxonomic revision of Paracanthon Balthasar, 1938 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae).

Paracanthon Balthasar 1938 includes four nominal species of dung beetles occurring in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern, southeastern and southern Brazil, and Misiones, Argentina. Here we describe twelve new species of Paracanthon : P. arnaudi sp. n. , P. belloi sp. n. , P felipei sp. n. , P genieri sp. n. , P. grossiorum sp. n. , P. laevinotus sp. n. , P. lopesandradei sp. n. , P. marinezae sp. n. , P. millerorum sp. n. , P.monteiroorum sp. n. , P. muriloi sp. n. , P. ocellatopunctatus sp. n. We propose P. pereirai d'Andretta & Martínez 1957 as a new junior subjective synonym of P. rosinae Balthasar 1942. In addition, we present new data on the morphology of the hindwings and male genitalia, and an identification key to the species of the genus. Paracanthon is restricted to the Atlantic domain, and we briefly discuss the possible processes that might have led to the diversification of the putative lineages recognized here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]