Today is the first of what I hope will become a relatively regular thing - a feature on various South Pacific insects. The lucky candidate, by virtue of being able to source a cool picture, and having found a paper on the genus Gynmopholus....Gymnopholus weiskei is a large beetle, around 3cm long. It is found in the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea, and feeds on a range of host plants including yams (Dioscorea spp.), brambles (Rubus archboldianus) and chinaberry (Melia azedarach)
Gymnopholus weiskei was first described by Dr K. M. Heller in 1901 and is the type species for the genus. This means that for a weevil to be named in the genus Gymnopholus, it must have several key similarities with G. weiskei.
There is another very cool photo of G. weiskei here.
References:
Marshall, GAK. (1959). Curculionid genus Gymnopholus (Coleoptera).
Szent-Ivany, JJH. (1970).
Ethological and ecological observations on Gymnopholus spp. mainly G. (S.) lichenifer Gress. (March-April 1967).
Ethological and ecological observations on Gymnopholus spp. mainly G. (S.) lichenifer Gress. (March-April 1967).
Photo courtesy of bugsbynature.com
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