Durandius Kaszab, 1970

Maruyama, Munetoshi & Ando, Kiyoshi, 2022, Review of the genera Rondoniella Kaszab, 1970 and Durandius Kaszab, 1970 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), with description of R. hosoishii sp. nov. from an ant nest in Cambodia, Zootaxa 5209 (2), pp. 293-300 : 296

Durandius Kaszab, 1970

Durandius Kaszab, 1970: 115 (original description).

Comments. Most of the characteristics of the genus Durandius fit well with those of the genus Rondoniella .Although Kaszab (1970) accounted for the genus as distinguishing characteristics, the truncated anterior margin of the head, the character states of prothoracic hypomera and of antennal form are considered to be diagnosis of the species in the genus rather than a synapomorphy. The rounded tooth of foretibia is also recognizable in that of Rondoniella bremeri Ferrer & Moragues. However , we confirmed that Durandius ardoini does not share the character state, prothoracic cavity for receiving antennomeres, which is observed in the Rondoniella species, and the gular shape of D. ardoini is also considerably different from that of Rondoniella species. Also, the mouthparts are less strange than in Rondoniella : in Durandius ardoini the labrum is circular, not elongate as in Rondoniella , and the mandibles are well developed and slightly visible in ventral view while invisible in ventral view and apparently degenerated in Rondoniella . At the moment it is difficult to determine whether Durandius is a synonym of Rondoniella , so we will tentatively leave Durandius as an independent genus. As we examined only a single specimen of D. ardoni and were unable to dissect and observe the mouthparts in detail.