Pusiodactylus, Smith, 2008

Smith, Andrew B. T., 2008, South American Melolonthinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) classification and nomenclature: some problems and solutions, Insecta Mundi 2008 (60), pp. 1-28 : 18

Genus Pusiodactylus new genus

Type species Pusiodactylus mondacai Smith , here designated.

Description (Figs. 18-19). Length 4.6-7.8 mm. Dorsal surface bicolored with even setal pattern. Head: mentum approximately 4x longer than wide, with weak longitudinal trough in P. mondacai . Pronotum: widest medially, width approximately equal to length. Legs: protibia with two apical teeth on outer margin, without series of small teeth medially and basally. Claws symmetrical, each side split apically. Protibial spurs absent. Metatibial spurs absent in males, females have 1-2 metatibial spurs (1 in P. flavipennis and 2 in P. mondacai ).

Etymology. Pusiodactylus is formed to indicate the similarity of this genus to species in the genus Macrodactylus . “ Pusio ” is Latin for “a small boy” in reference to the very small size of the two species in this genus relative to other melolonthine species. The name is masculine in gender.

Remark. Until now, this genus erroneously went under the name Pristerophora Harold. This was based on a long-standing misidentification of the type species of Pristerophora . Now that this nomenclatural problem has been corrected (see under Pristerophora ), it is necessary to create a new generic name for this taxon.