Bark and Ambrosia Beetles of the World

This species and its close relatives are distinguished by characters of the frons, specifically size and position of a central concavity and the location of paired spongy projections. These are extremely variable and there is no basis for maintaining torosus Wood as a separate species. It is possible that binodatus Wood is also a synonym. The confused state of the taxonomy of this group has been increased by a small number of collections of few individuals.

Wood may have considered retusipennis Blandford a synonym, but he never published it. In his collection is a male labeled ‘homotype Hylocurus retusipennis’ but also a label ‘Hylocurus discifer Wood 2004’. Based on photographsof his homotype of discifer and of the holotype of retusipennis (both by me), I conclude that only one species is present.

Based on the species treatment in Wood (1982), this species may be related to M. burgosi Wood. This belongs to a group of species that Wood places in Hylocurus but that I believe belong in Micracis. There are some asperities on the posyterior face of the protibia, but the shape of the protibia, the antennal scape, and antennal club place it in Micracis.