Pardalosus Gordon and Skelley 2007
Pardalosus Gordon and Skelley 2007: 375.

Pardalosus pardalis (LeConte) Photo by P. Skelley.

Type species. Aphodius pardalis LeConte 1857: 41, by original designation.

Diagnosis. Body length 3.0-6.0 mm, broadly elongate, somewhat flattened, black, usually with yellowish-brown elytra variably marked with black spots. Head strongly punctured. Clypeal margin angulate or not, surface smooth to rugose. Pronotum not laterally fringed. Metatibial apical spinules unequal, some short.

Distribution. North America.

Composition. Pardalosus contains 7 species.

Pardalosus neodistinctus (Brown 1928: 89) [Aphodius], Central-USA.
Pardalosus pardalis (LeConte 1857: 41) [Aphodius], W-USA, BC-Canada.
Pardalosus pseudopardalis Gordon and Skelley 2007: 380, CA-USA, Mexico.
Pardalosus pumilio (Schmidt 1907: 201) [Aphodius], SW-USA, Mexico.
                  = Aphodius pumilus Horn 1887: 50, [not Aphodius pumilus Quedenfelt 1884].
Pardalosus sayi (Gordon 2006: 53-54) [Aphodius], S-Central USA.
Pardalosus serval (Say 1835: 177) [Aphodius], E-USA.
                  = Aphodius steinheili Harold 1869: 100.
                  = Aphodius serval pennsylvanicus Robinson 1940: 141.
Pardalosus slevini (VanDyke 1928: 155) [Aphodius], CA-USA.
                  = Aphodius davisi Fall 1930: 73, CA-USA.

Life History. Pardalosus neodistinctus and P. sleveni are collected in association with rodents; prairie dogs and pack rats respectively. The other species may be detritivores, and are not usually collected in association with dung.

Larvae. The larva of P. pardalis is described in Ritcher (1966).

Status of Classification. There are presently 3 recognized species groups, based primarily on external morphology. They are easily distinguished based on genitalic characters and distribution.