Faune de France

TL;DR: Five small groups of torieoptera which the author regards as constituting separate families are dealt with in the Faune de France series of monographs, well up to the standard of its predecessors.

Abstract: We welcome the appearance of another instalment of the Faune de France series of monographs. The present contribution deals with five small groups of torieoptera which the author regards as constituting separate families. The most important of these are the Bruchidse, which comprise seven genera and sixty-eight species within the faunal limits of France. The Anthribidae are represented by six genera and twenty-one species. The genus Urodon, which has long been attached to this family, is placed by M. Hoffmann in a separate one of its own—the Urodonidae, transitional between the Rhynchophora and Phytophaga. Some modern authorities, it may be added, relegate it to the Bruchidae. Five species of the genus are included in the French fauna. The Brenthidae also come in for consideration. They comprise but a single French species Amorphocephalus coronatus, which lives in association with ants of the genus Camponotus. Finally, a separate family-the Nemonychidae—is erected to replace the tribe Rhinomacerini of the Curculionidae. It is considered transitional in structure between the last-named and the Scolytidae. Three genera, each with a single species, are included within the faunal limits. The work, as a whole, is well up to the standard of its predecessors; it is adequately illustrated, the figures of the species of Anthribidae being particularly effective, and there is the usual compendium of diagnostic keys to the genera and species dealt with. Faune de France 44: Coleopteres Bruchides et Anthribides. Par Adolphe Hoffmann. (Federation francaise des Societes de Sciences naturelles: Office central de faunistique.) Pp. 184. (Paris: Paul Lechevalier et fils, 1945.) 260 francs.