Genus Melalgus Dejean, 1835: 309

Type species: Apate gonagra Fabricius, 1798: 156 (= Apate femoralis Fabricius, 1792: 361). Monotypy. (Bousquet & Bouchard, 2013: 73).

Diagnosis. Body elongate, cylindrical, reddish-brown to black. Head strongly convex, completely visible from above. Lateral profile of head evenly arcuate in both sexes. Fronto-clypeal suture more or less distinct. Mandibles not impressed dorsally, closing below labrum. Antennae with 9‒11 antennomeres. Pronotum with sides flattened or weakly concave, lateral margin without carinae. Elytra parallel-sided, moderately convex, with or without longitudinal carinae on apical declivity. Protibiae short and thick, deeply emarginate at base. Sexual dimorphism usually well-developed, males less conspicuously setose than females, and elytra often glabrous posteriorly, not punctured and granulate throughout. Further morphological characters are given by Fisher (1950).