Odontolochus Schmidt, 1916

Stebnicka, Zdzisława T., 2009, A revision of the African species of Odontolochini Stebnicka & Howden, 1996 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), Zootaxa 2230, pp. 1-15 : 3

Genus Odontolochus Schmidt, 1916

Odontolochus Schmidt, 1916: 99 — Schmidt 1922: 465; Paulian 1942: 124; Endrödi 1960: 240 –241; Endrödi 1964: 368; Dellacasa 1988: 271 (catalog); Stebnicka & Howden 1996: 101; Stebnicka & Galante 2007: 134. Type species Odontoderus gestroi Clouët, 1900 by subsequent designation by Paulian (1942).

Odontoderus Clouët, 1900: 248 (junior homonym of Odontoderus Schwarz, 1894: 149 in Elateridae ).

Anodontolochus Paulian, 1942: 125 (as subgenus of Odontolochus ). Unavailable name. Paulian (1942) did not designate a type species when he proposed this subgeneric name therefore it is unavailable under Article 13.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Loeblietus Endrödi, 1979: 957 –958 — Stebnicka & Galante 2007: 134 (as synonym of Odontolochus ). Type species Loeblietus sulcatus Endrödi, 1979 by monotypy.

Description. Length 2.0–4.5 mm. Body oblong oval, convex. Head deflexed, feebly convex dorsally; clypeal anterior face wide, with double edge, lower edge inflexed, angulate medially; gena abutting prothoracic edge. Eye small, concealed under pronotal margin. Pronotum unevenly convex, tumid anteriorly, with lateral furrows and/or median longitudinal sulcus; side margin angulate to multidentate; prothoracic and clypeal indentations together form a cavity to receive fore legs. Scutellum small. Elytron with double humeral denticles, elytral intervals alternately differentiated or equally developed, convex or costate, smooth, tuberculate and/or swollen. Posterior prosternal process large, triangular; mesosternum deplanate, lower than metasternum, calloused; mesocoxae distinctly separated, subparallel or oblique; abdominal sternites finely to coarsely fluted or costate along sutures, pygidium convex, deeply eroded or alutaceous. Legs short to moderate in length; mesofemora and metafemora straight or sinuate; protibia short, lateral teeth small; mesotibiae and metatibiae dorsoventrally flattened, sinuate, apical spurs short and very thin, often seta-like; tarsi short, tarsomeres cylindrical or triangular; claws small.

Remark. The genus includes 11 African species concentrated in the equatorial zone and two Australian species described from New South Wales and Queensland ( Odontolochus monteithi Stebnicka and Howden, 1996 and Odontolochus weiri Stebnicka and Howden, 1996 ). Specimens of some species were collected in the colonies of termites.