Legalov, Legalov, 2024

Legalov, Andrei A., 2024, Reclassification of the tribe Ellescini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Ecologica Montenegrina 75, pp. 200-241 : 201-202

Tribe: Ellescini C.G. Thomson, 1859

= Dorytomini Bedel, 1886

Remarks. The genus Dorytomus was considered part of the subfamily Erirhininae , and the genera Ellescus and Proctorus in the subfamily Curculioninae . Zherikhin & Egorov (1991) placed Dorytomus in the tribe Ellescini , noting that this was one of the most primitive tribes of the subfamily Curculioninae . Legalov (2020b) considered Dorytomus to be part of the separate tribe Dorytomini in the subfamily Erirhininae because of its primitive characters. Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal (1999) and Caldara et al. (2014) placed the genera Dorytomus , Ellescus and Proctorus in two subtribes of the tribe Ellescini of the subfamily Curculioninae . The main difference between the subtribes Dorytomina and Ellescina is the presence or absence the teeth on the tarsal claws ( Lewis & Anderson 2022). The genus Dorytomus does not have the teeth, but sometimes has bulges in their place.

The study of many species has shown that all these genera are close and cannot be considered as part of different subtribes. Monophyly is confirmed by the same biology and association with plants of the family Salicaceae .

The genus Adorytomus Voss, 1953 was placed in the subtribe Dorytomina ( Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal 1999) , but it has a different structure of the antennal grooves and is probably close to the genus Sphinxis Roelofs, 1875 .

The diversity of the genus Dorytomus has been noted by many researchers. A separate genus Rodotymus Zumpt, 1932 was established for Dorytomus dentimanus Reitter, 1894 ( Zumpt 1932). Several subgenera have been recognized ( Reitter 1916; Iablokov-Khnzorian 1970; Zumpt 1932; Smreczyński 1972; Freude et al. 1983; Alonso- Zarazaga & Lyal 1999). However, the armament of the endophallus were not used, and the group's system was not clear. Some authors ( O'Brien 1970; Dieckmann 1986; Korotyaev 1996; Colonnelli 2003; Alonso-Zarazaga et al. 2023) reduced all the names of the subgenera to synonyms for Dorytomus . The genus system needed revision, which was done in this study.