Oryzaephilus Ganglbauer, 1899

Halstead, David G. H., 2012, New species of Oryzaephilus and Silvanolomus from Socotra Island (Coleoptera: Silvanidae: Silvaninae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52, pp. 223-231 : 224

Oryzaephilus Ganglbauer, 1899

Oryzaephilus is a relatively small genus containing 16 species including the new one described below. It is indigenous to the Old World and is well represented in Africa. All species have six lateral teeth on each side of the pronotum that are moderately to strongly developed. In males the tooth at the anterior angle is sometimes conspicuously more strongly developed than the others. In addition, the sides of the pronotal disc are raised to form lateral ridges (one at each side) and usually a median longitudinal ridge is also present. They have 5 tarsomeres, the 4 th (penultimate) very small, and the 3 rd apically slightly broader than previous tarsomeres and concave to receive the 4 th. Two pest species, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (Linnaeus, 1758) (the Saw-toothed Grain Beetle) and Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel, 1889) (the Merchant Grain Beetle), are virtually cosmopolitan having been introduced to many parts of the world in association with grain and various other stored food products. Consequently, Oryzaephilus is a well-known genus throughout the greater part of the world. Although the two pest species have occasionally been collected under bark, trapping records for other field species suggest that humus, fallen seeds and dead plant material in general may be more important as natural habitats for the genus. The most recent revision of Oryzaephilus is that of the author ( HALSTEAD 1980). Since then two additional species have been described ( HALSTEAD 1997).