Taxonomy of Moluccan Onthophagus, including eight new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Eight new species ofOnthophagusLatreille, 1802 from the Moluccas (Indonesia) are described and compared with their closest known relatives. The new species are placed in multi-species operational groups as follows:Onthophagussibela,O. wayaua(malasiacusgroup);Onthophagusalfuricus(deflexicollisgroup);Onthophagusbiscarinulatus(carinulatusgroup);Onthophaguscoprimorphoides(coprimorphusgroup);Onthophagusfrankrozendaali,O. seramicus(seramicusgroup);Onthophagus ontosatu(ungrouped single species). The identification of these newOnthophagusspecies is supported by dichotomous keys and a synoptic table of characters. Three named species are recorded from the Moluccas for the first time. In theO. deflexicollisgroup a homonymy is corrected:Onthophagus danumicusKrikken & Huijbregts, nom.nov. forOnthophagus danumensisKrikken & Huijbregts, 2011 non Ochi, Kon & Barclay, 2009. All 19Onthophagusspecies thus far recorded from the Moluccas are listed, with annotations.