Malacogaster, BASSI, 1834

GENUS MALACOGASTER BASSI, 1834 : PL. 99

( FIG. 9F, L, W)

Type species: Malacogaster passerinii Bassi, 1834 ; by monotypy.

Species included: Eleven species: Malacogaster bassii Lucas, 1870 , M. holomelas Peyerimhoff, 1949 , M. maculiventris Reitter, 1894 , M. nigripes Schaufuss, 1867 , M. olcesei Pic, 1951 , M. parallelocollis Reitter, 1894 , M. passerinii Bassi, 1833 , M. rubripes Peyerimhoff, 1949 , M. rutllanti Alcaide, 1946 , M. theryi Pic, 1951 , M. tilloides Wollaston, 1864 .

Diagnosis: Malacogaster is recognized by the combination of the following characters: frontoclypeal region short and wide; eyes small, their frontal separation 2.20–2.65 times eye diameter; labrum large, subtrapezoidal; mandible with only small tooth medially at incisor; terminal maxillary and labial palpomeres short, gradually narrowed toward apex, apically obliquely truncate; antenna serrate; pronotum subquadrate to subtrapezoidal, about 1.10– 1.40 times as wide as long, with lateral sides almost straight, usually gradually widened towards posterior margin, posterior margin with small arcuate median emargination; lateral carina short, reaching usually no more than half of pronotal length; prosternum ( Fig. 9F) with reduced prosternal process; mesoventrite ( Fig. 9L) V-shaped, with only indistinctly defined or shallow mesoventral cavity; elytra usually relatively short, dehiscent, with abdomen surpassing the tip of elytra; surface of elytra uneven, without striae or lines of punctures; abdominal ventrites free ( Fig. 9W); sternite IX and tergite X typically elongate, about or more than twice as long as wide; paramere with latero-apical projection on inner side.

D i s t r i b u t i o n: S p a i n (C a n a r y I s l a n d s, I b e r i a n Peninsula, Balearic Islands), Italy (Sardinia, Sicily, Italian Peninsula), northern Africa ( Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya).