Chromosome-level genome assembly of the dung beetle Synapsis davidis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
2026-08-14
Dung beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae are important contributors to terrestrial ecosystem processes, playing key roles in dung decomposition, soil bioturbation, and nutrient cycling. Among these, large-bodied species are often considered functionally important due to their strong dung-processing capacity. One such example is Synapsis davidis , a large-bodied dung beetle endemic to China. This species exhibits dual dung-processing strategies—both tunneling directly beneath dung pats and rolling dung balls for burial—and is found in forest, grassland, and ecotonal habitats. These ecological traints suggest that S. davidis may help remove dung and the maintain essential processes, making it a promising target for studies on grassland conservation and ecological restoration. However, genomic resources for this species remain unavailable. To address this gap, we generated a chromosome-level genome assembly for S. davidis using PacBio HiFi, Illumina, and Hi-C sequencing data. The final assembly spans 1.10 Gb and comprises 10 assembled chromosomes, with a scaffold N50 of 107.51 Mb and a BUSCO completeness of 99.40% based on the endopterygota_odb10 database. We predicted 10,955 protein-coding genes, of which 99.11% were functionally annotated. Altogether, this resource provides a foundation for future ecological, evolutionary, and comparative genomic studies of dung beetles.