Draft genome assembly of the green-bronze dung beetle, Onthophagus orpheus

Abstract

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) are ecologically important insects, yet genomic resources for this diverse lineage remain limited. Here, we present a high-quality genome assembly for Onthophagus orpheus, an understudied species that is abundant in urban forests in the eastern United States. The assembled genome is highly contiguous and exhibits strong completeness, as assessed by Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Ortholog (BUSCO) analyses, indicating robust representation of conserved protein-coding genes. Structural and functional annotation recovered a comprehensive gene set consistent with expectations for coleopteran genomes. This genome assembly provides an important resource for future work on the behavioral ecology and population genetics of Onthophagus orpheus, specifically, and Scarabaeinae more broadly.