Molytophilus Hartmann, 1904

Hartmann, 1904: 388 (species included: carinatus). Type species: Molytophilus carinatus Hartmann, 1904 fixed by monotypy.

Remarks. The herein re-defined genus Molytophilus is monotypic and its only species M. carinatus is known from two east African localities separated by about one thousand kilometres: the type locality in the Usambara mountains in northeastern Tanzania and the Genale region in vicinity of Mogadishu in south-eastern Somalia. Its current taxonomic assignment to Molytini: Plinthina (Alonso-Zarazaga & Lyal 1999) or Plinthini (Lyal 2014) suggests a close relationship with at least some of the approximately 20 genera traditionally attributed to this group (Grebennikov 2014). This hypothesis was first implicitly suggested by Hartmann (1904: 389), who noted an external resemblance of M. carinatus and “ Plinthus caliginosus ” (= Mitoplinthus caliginosus (F.), figs 15A–B in Grebennikov 2014). The subtribe Plinthina (sensu Grebennikov 2014), like the great majority of other weevil tribes and subtribes, has never been subjected to a phylogenetic analysis and, therefore, its monophyly and the relationships of its members to Molytophilus have never been tested. Biological preferences of the genus and its immature stages are unknown.