Coxollodes Kirejtshuk, 1987

Lawrence, John F. & Kirejtshuk, Alexander G., 2019, Review of the Australian Cyllodini (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae: Nitidulinae), with descriptions of new taxa, and notes on the genus Macleayania (Nitidulini), Zootaxa 4544 (3), pp. 301-334 : 308-309

Coxollodes Kirejtshuk, 1987

Coxollodes Kirejtshuk 1987: 168 . Type species: Pallodes cyrtusoides Reitter, 1884 . Note. This genus was described by Kirejtshuk (1987: 168) as a subgenus of Pallodes , based on the type, P. cyrtusoides Reitter. The taxon was later elevated to the generic level, based in large part on the unusual type of ovipositor ( Kirejtshuk 2005: 68). Currently, the genus includes the following species: C. amamiensis (Hisamatsu, 1956) ( Japan (Amami-Oshima); C. cyrtusoides (Reitter, 1884) ( Japan, Korea, East and South China, Taiwan, Philippines, Nepal, India, Vietnam); C. loriai ( Grouvelle, 1906) (Aru, New Guinea); C. parvulus (Grouvelle, 1909) (West Africa); C. parvus (Grouvelle, 1903) ( Madagascar) and C. reitteri ( Kirejtshuk, 1987) ( Philippines, Mindanao). Species of Coxollodes may be distinguished from those of Pallodes by the very short, carinate prosternum with the carina extending onto the very short prosternal process, and the ovipositor, which is relatively short and broad, with the paraproctal bacula joined at the junction with the oblique gonocoxal bacula, the gonocoxites fused together forming a single structure with narrowly acute apex, on each side of which are large, short and broad, apically blunt and laterally placed lobes which thus form almost all of the blunt ovipositor apex. The other features used in the above generic key appear to work quite well for separating Coxollodes from Pallodes , where they occur widely in Queensland, but outside Australia variation within both genera appears to be greater. This group seems to be monophyletic, although its prosternum could be an extreme form of that occurring in the genus Pallodes . As noted above, the unusual ovipositor in this genus is also found in Cychramus and Cyclocaccus . This raises the question of whether this distinctive type of ovipositor reflects a particular deviation in the habits of some of these groups. The acute ovipositor of most cyllodines is probably used to insert eggs into the relatively compact tissue of mushrooms, while the modified version might indicate oviposition on a surface or within a very soft matrix.