Fraudatrix

Taxonomy

Fraudatrix Cognato, Smith and Beaver, 2020 (in Cognato et al. 2020a): 544.

Diagnosis

Length 1.75–2.5 mm and 2.86–3.33 times as long as wide. Fraudatrix can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: antennalantennal:
pertaining to the antennae
funicle 2-segmented, antennalantennal:
pertaining to the antennae
club type 2 with one suture visible on the posteriorposterior:
toward the rear end; opposite of anterior
face, protibiaprotibia:
tibia of the first pair of legs
obliquely triangular with 6 or fewer denticlesdenticle:
a small tooth, the sides of which are equal and the tip is above the middle of the base
on outer margin and posteriorposterior:
toward the rear end; opposite of anterior
face flattened and unarmed, scutellumscutellum:
a shield-like sclerotized plate located at the midpoint of the elytral base 
small, flush with elytralelytral:
pertaining to the elytra
surface, mycangial tufts absent, elytraelytron:
the two sclerotized forewings of beetles that protect and cover the flight wings
attenuateattenuate:
gradually tapering apically
and pronotalpronotal:
pertaining to the pronotum
discdisc:
the flat central upper surface of any body part (e.g. pronotum and elytra)
longer than anterioranterior:
the front or forward; opposite of posterior
slope (Cognato et al. 2020aCognato et al. 2020a:
Cognato AI, Smith SM, Beaver RA. 2020a. Two new genera of Oriental xyleborine ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera, Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Zootaxa 4722: 540-554. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4722.6.2).

Fraudatrix most closely resembles Cryptoxyleborus and Tricosa with which it shares an attenuateattenuate:
gradually tapering apically
appearance and small size. It can be distinguished from Cryptoxyleborus by the following diagnostic characters (Fraudatrix given first): scutellumscutellum:
a shield-like sclerotized plate located at the midpoint of the elytral base 
visible vs scutellumscutellum:
a shield-like sclerotized plate located at the midpoint of the elytral base 
not apparent, antennalantennal:
pertaining to the antennae
club truncatetruncate:
appearing cut off or suddenly shortened
and type 2 vs flattened and type 4, antennalantennal:
pertaining to the antennae
funicle 2-segmented vs 3-or 4-segmented, no more than one suture visible on the posteriorposterior:
toward the rear end; opposite of anterior
face vs three sutures visible. Fraudatrix is also similar to Stictodex with which it shares a type 2 antennalantennal:
pertaining to the antennae
club, two-segmented funiclefunicle:
part of the antenna that is proximal to the club; composed of 2-4 segments in xyleborines.
and obliquely triangular protibiaprotibia:
tibia of the first pair of legs
. Stictodex is easily distinguished from Fraudatrix by the following combination of characters: larger size and stouter form (2.4–3.3 mm long; 2.54–2.89 times as long as wide), antennalantennal:
pertaining to the antennae
club very broad, protibiaeprotibia:
tibia of the first pair of legs
with 6–8 denticlesdenticle:
a small tooth, the sides of which are equal and the tip is above the middle of the base
on outer margin and posteriorposterior:
toward the rear end; opposite of anterior
face inflatedinflated:
blown up; distended
and granulategranulate:
pertaining to a coarse, grainy surface texture
, elytraelytron:
the two sclerotized forewings of beetles that protect and cover the flight wings
with first and second interstriaeinterstria:
longitudinal spaces along the elytra between the striae, which is not as<br /> impressed and bear smaller punctures.
divergent, broadest at elytralelytral:
pertaining to the elytra
summit, and declivitydeclivity:
downward slope of either the pronotum or elytra
truncate or broadly rounded (Cognato et al. 2020aCognato et al. 2020a:
Cognato AI, Smith SM, Beaver RA. 2020a. Two new genera of Oriental xyleborine ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera, Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Zootaxa 4722: 540-554. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4722.6.2).

May be confused with

Cryptoxyleborus, Cyclorhipidion, Stictodex, and Tricosa

Distribution

throughout the Oriental and Australian regions

Gallery system

Only the gallery of F. cuneiformis has been described. The system has branched tunnels with small brood chambers in the longitudinal plane (Browne 1961).

Remarks

Specimens of this genus are very rarely collected.