Falliellus, Bellamy, 2001

Bellamy, C. L., 2001, The Madagascan Coraebini Bedel (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Agrilinae): A New Genus And Species, The Coleopterists Bulletin 55 (2), pp. 167-171 : 167-168

Falliellus , new genus

Type species: Falliellus richardi , new species (present designation).

Diagnosis. Coraebine, small, subcylindrical, flattened above and strongly convex below, both longitudinally and latitudinally appearing navicular from the side; surface asperate; narrow vittae and one elytral fascia of dense setae decorate dorsal surface; antennae serrate from antennamere 4; prosternum lacking mentonniere; elytral apices each with one sutural tooth; pygidium with single projecting medial spine; ventral pulvilli on four basal tarsomeres, claws appendiculate.

Description. Head deeply emaginate between eyes on frontovertex, with one pair of produced lateral lobes projecting anteriorly beyond margin of eyes; frontoclypeus entire; antennal cavities small, only moderately separated by narrow parallel­sided portion of frontoclypeus; lateral portion of clypeus trans­

1 2nd contribution to the understanding of Madagascan Coraebini .

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versely excavated for basal antennameres in repose; pronotum widest near midpoint, subquadrate, anterior margin arcuate medially, posterior margin bisinuate, lateral margins broadly arcuate, entirely carinate; disk entire, flattened; scutellum subtriangular; elytra wider opposite humeri than pronotum; gradually narrowing to rounded apices; epipleura well­developed, nearly entire; prosternum with anterior margin feebly emarginate; process feebly expanded posterior to procoxae; metacoxal plate transverse posteriorly; abdominal sterna 1 and 2 subequal, 3 and 4 shorter than 2, 5 longer than 4, not sexually modified; femora subparallel; tibiae feebly arcuate basally.

Etymology. This new monotypic genus is defined as masculine and the name is chosen to honor Richard P. Fall, as mentioned above.

Remarks. In my evolving understanding of the Madagascan Coraebina, placement within the as yet unstructured ordering of the known fauna is rather arbitrary, as even genus­group definition is premature. From the extant taxa, it belongs to Group 2 of three groups of genera defined by the configuration of the head topography, which was used in the initial sorting of the thousands of specimens in the Paris Museum collection by the late A. Descarpentries. Group 1 has the frons relatively evenly transverse or only feebly emarginate between the eyes, e.g., Entomogaster Saunders (1871), Midongya Obenberger (1942) , Paranastella Obenberger (1931) ; Group 2 has the frons more strongly depressed between a single pair of lobes projecting beyond the outline of the eyes, e.g., Antanambia Descarpentries (1975), Chloricala Kerremans (1893) , Sambus Deyrolle (1864) ; and Group 3 has two pair of frontal turbercles, e.g., Angatra Descarpentries (1969), Mandritsaria Obenberger (1942) and Paradora Kerremans (1900) . Falliellus differs immediately from all known Madagascan coraebines by the combination of surface sculpture and vestiture design, the navicular appearance when viewed laterally and the pair of apical elytral teeth.