Melanotydaeus

Melanotydaeus was first described as a subgenus of Lasiotydaeus (Berlese, 1910: 211) and was raised to full generic level by Thor (1933: 48). It was divided into two subgenera, Melanotydaeus and Stylotydeus and synonymized with Tydeus by Baker and Wharton (1952: 191). It was restored by Baker (1965: 102) but was not keyed out. “The placing of Melanotydaeus as a synonym of Tydeus by Baker and Wharton must at present be considered to be in error” commented Baker (1965: 102) who concluded “The type, in the Berlese collection, is in extremely poor condition, and it is impossible to know what the genus actually is”. Genus inquirendus.