Cook Islands Insect Expedition: Black Twig Borer

The black twig borer Xylosandrus compactus (Eichhoff, 1875). Image courtesy of Ken Walker via PaDIL. Licence: CC: BY.

A timely interview on Radio New Zealand aired this week demonstrates the importance of taxonomic expertise, and the need for my research on the weevils of the Cook Islands. A Radio NZ interview with Cook Islands Minister of Agriculture, Kiriau Turepu, discusses the impact of black twig borer on agriculture in the country.

The black twig borer is the common name of Xylosandrus compactus, an ambrosia beetle belonging to the weevil subfamily Scolytinae. This species has not been previously recorded from the Cook Islands, though a related species, Xylosandrus morigerus was recorded in a 1990 paper on the Scolytinae of the Cook Islands. Scolytine beetles are tricky beasts to identify due to their size, and so distinguishing between these two species is no easy task. Could this be a case of mistaken identity? Without seeing specimens or knowing more details of who identified it, it's hard to say.

Although it is suspected that the beetle may have been introduced from New Zealand or Australia, Xylosandrus compactus is not known from either country. However, it is known from other South Pacific countries, including Hawaii, Fiji, American Samoa and New Caledonia. The timing of establishment also seems to be in doubt, which will make investigating the invasion pathway somewhat tricky. Once again, specimens would provide valuable data, if regular collections have been made.

Mention is also made of damage on mango fruits. While the black twig borer has a wide host range (upwards of 200 species of plant), I am doubtful that the damage described can be attributed to it. Xylosandrus compactus bores in twigs and cultivates fungi along the tunnel walls (That's right! They're farmers!). The damage to mangos sounds like the work of a different beetle, the mango seed weevil Sternochetus mangiferae which has been in Rarotonga since around 2000. Knowing the difference is important for effective control and mitigation of damage.

For better or worse, it sounds like the black twig borer is well established on Rarotonga now, and I look forward to collecting specimens and adding it to the list of weevils known from the island. Once published, my research will hopefully allow rapid identification of future invaders, leading to more certain recognition of invasion pathways, and fast implementation of eradication or control measures.

References:
Beaver RA, Maddison PA. 1990. The bark and ambrosia beetles of the Cook Islands and Niue (Coleoptera: Scolytidae and Platypodidae). Journal of Natural History 24: 1365–1375.

Cook Islands Insect Expedition: Funding Granted!

Satellite image of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Image via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public Domain.

As the tagline of this blog suggests, I have a profound interest in the biota and people of the South Pacific. I was fortunate to spend an influential part of my childhood in the Solomon Islands, then managed to work on beetles across the South Pacific for my MSc research. Since I've moved on to studying weevils, I've been very keen to contribute to a greater knowledge of the weevil fauna of the Pacific; but until now I haven't had the financial support, nor a topic that is simultaneously ambitious enough to be useful but also achievable.

The Cook Islands caught my eye about a year or so ago, when I realised that the weevil fauna of the group was essentially unknown. What little was published usually didn't get beyond a mention of "Rarotonga" or "Cook Islands" in the Distribution section of a species account in papers that had a different geographic focus. The superb Cook Islands Biodiversity Database lists 35 species of weevil from the Islands, which included several undescribed species and unidentified taxa. Further investigation of the literature revealed that it wasn't just the weevils that were barely known from the Cooks—few collecting expeditions have been undertaken, and not many insect taxa have published data available.

Holotype of Ptilopodius aitutakii Beaver and Maddison. One of two weevils described from the Cook Islands. Image courtesy of Auckland Museum. Licence: CC: BY.

This lack of knowledge surprised me, given the Cook Islands' strategic location in the South Pacific. Being approximately halfway between Samoa and Tahiti, it's in a key position to test hypotheses of the cause of the eastward attenuation of species richness and diversity that is such a feature of the biogeography of the South Pacific. Much has also been made of the fact that several taxa find their eastward limit around Samoa and Tonga, without having data from Niue or the Cook Islands to ascertain if this eastward limit is truly the case or not. A comprehensive work on the weevils of the Cook Islands would be able to confirm or refute some of these ideas of distribution of species in the South Pacific.

The small size of the islands made them attractive too. Rarotonga, the largest and highest of the group, is still only 62 km² in area and 650 m at its highest point. Not too much time (in theory at least!) would be required to make comprehensive collection in the available habitats.

The combination of the geographic location of the Cook Islands, and their small size lets me predict that weevil fauna will be fairly small and depauparate. I'm expecting that the total number of species will be around 200 or so. This is also beneficial, as it gives me hope that I may be able to write up the results of any collecting done in a timely and efficient manner. Additionally, although I expect a lot of the species to be endemic to the Cooks, the genera they represent are likely to be widely distributed, which would result in this work giving me a good foundation for further, future work on the weevils of other Pacific archipelagos

So there were the Cook Islands: small enough to collect everywhere in the space of a few weeks, an unknown fauna with a low number of species that could be written up in a short period of time and opportunity for first-hand experience with Pacific weevil taxa. In my opinion at least, this potential project held a lot of promise.

I am honoured that the board of the New Zealand Winston Churchill Memorial Trust considered it to have a lot of merit also. The trust funds overseas travel that bring New Zealanders into contact with other cultures, learn from their experiences and contribute to the community through their research and knowledge. Over 850 fellowships have been granted since the establishment of the Trust in 1965 and includes artists, educators, economists, academics and musicians. It's an impressive list of highly talented people and it's very humbling to be included among them.

The Trust has offered funding to cover two months in the Cook Islands, collecting weevils and other insects on Rarotonga, Atiu, Mangaia and Mitiaro. I expect it to be a great adventure, and one that I hope will prove productive and useful. I plan to go in March 2017, and intend to post semi-regular updates on aspects of the preparation for the trip, the expedition as it happens, and the aftermath of specimen sorting, preparation and identification. I very grateful that the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust has provided support for this expedition, and I'm excited about being able to make a significant contribution to our knowledge of the insects of the Cook Islands.

PhD week 30: Epitimetes lutosus

Epitimetes lutosus Pascoe (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae)

The best things always happen serendipitously. Over the past week I got asked to identify some weevils that had turned up in some pitfall traps set by one of the research institutes on the Canterbury Plains. They were Epitimetes lutosus Pascoe, a weevil that was described from Christchurch and by all accounts is endemic to the plains. It is represented in national insect collections by less than 30 species, and its larvae and biology are unknown.

A jar full of Epitimetes lutosus

I was pretty excited by this find and asked for more, if they managed to get some. I got a call a few days later saying they got some others, and if I could come and pick them up. I arrived to find the container pictured above—literally hundreds of specimens from a single agricultural field. Plenty enough for pinning, dissecting, extracting DNA, and generally essentially anything else one would require specimens for!

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Read:
   Borg MJ. 2001. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. HarperOne, New York.
   McCulloch D. 2010. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years London: Penguin
   Psalms 119–122

Websites:
Huffington Post—Reef fishes of the East Indies Book release
XKCD—Click and Drag

Listened:
Project 86—Wait for the Siren

Watched:
Firefly

Checklist of Australian Weevils

Acantholophus, a member of the exclusively Australian tribe Amycterini.
From the Barrow Island Biosecurity Image Database on PaDIL. License: CC: BY.

The Australian Faunal Directory has a brand new addition to its database of Australian animals—the weevils. The list to the 4061 weevil species of Australia, representing 829 genera, is now available online. Don't expect scintillating reading or pretty pictures at this stage though. The checklist is exactly that—a list of names. For some of us, however, these lists are very useful and the addition of the citation to the original description makes this particular checklist more useful still. It's a big job to create things like this, and I for one appreciate it greatly!

PhD week 11: Mouthparts

Face of an unidentified Irenimus species.

Mouthparts are important. They are the entry point for the energy required by animals, and their form and structure can tell us something about the life and habitat of the creature in question. Insects have amazing mouthparts: consider the straw-like tube possessed by butterflies, the spongy pad used by blowflies, and the stilettos used by mosquitoes. What's even more incredible, is that it is modifications to the same four main structures that make up these very different structures. These structures are most easily seen in insects with biting mouthparts, such as grasshoppers or beetles. Their names and functions are as follows:

• The topmost structure is the labrum. This structure is a plate that prevents food from escaping out the top. Human analogy: upper lip or palate.
• The second strucure are the mandibles. These are a pair of large, strong, hardened plates that crush food into small particles that can be easily digested. Human analogy: teeth.
• The third structure are termed the maxillae (singular: maxilla). These are paired structures (like the mandibles) that help manipulate food, and also possess palps that contain banks of hairs and sensors that help the insect make sure that it's eating what it's supposed to. Human analogy: tongue.
• The fourth and final structure is the labium. This is a plate that stops food escaping out of the bottom of the mouth, similar to the labrum (notice the "R"), except that it also possessed palps like the maxillae. Human analogy: lower lip or lower jaw.

Maxilla (left) and labium (right) of Apotomoderes lateralis. Scale bars 0.2 mm and 0.1 mm respectively. Courtesy of Franz 2010. License: CC: BY

Weevils have their mouthparts at the end of the rostrum, and can just be seen in the photo at the top of the page. The structures listed above are possessed by weevils, with the exception of the labrum which is fused with the rest of the rostrum. In the picture above (taken from Franz 2010) you can see a maxilla on the left, and the labium on the right. They have not illustrated the mandibles, which can be pretty beefy in some species (such as Irenimus), but you can just see them at the tip of the rostrum in the photo above.

One of the question I hope to answer as part of my PhD is: do the mouthparts of Irenimus species reflect their environmental preferences? A reasonably straightforward question. Unfortunately, in order to look at their mouthparts, they need to be dissected out. This is easier said than done, as the mouthparts of weevils are very small and it takes a bit of fiddly microscope work to dissect them out. I tried my hand at it this week, following the methods used by Steve Davis in his work on baridine weevils, and successfully managed to get my first glimpse of weevil mouthparts. It will take a lot more dissecting to get to grips with some of the details, but the ice has been broken!

References:
   Davis SR. 2009. Morphology of Baridinae and related groups (Coleoptera, Curculionidae). ZooKeys 10: 1–136.
   Franz NM. 2010. Revision and phylogeny of the Caribbean weevil genus Apotomoderes Dejean, 1834 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae). ZooKeys 49: 33–75.

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Read:
   Wilson D. 2010. The People's Bible. The Remarkable History of the King James Version. Oxford: Lion
   McCulloch D. 2010. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years London: Penguin
   Psalms 55–59, Genesis 1:2

Websites:
Deep Thoughts and Silliness—a nature network blog by Bob O'Hara
Ubuntu 12.04 screensavers
Changing default applications

Listened:
Astor Piazzolla—Octeto Buenos Aires

Watched:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 3
Norma Jean—Kill More Presidents Music video

PhD week 2: Weevil larvae

Unidentified broad-nosed weevil larva

This week, in addition to continuing to prepare my proposal (focusing primarily on comparative phylogenetic methods), I was able to spend a little bit of time looking at specimens of weevil larvae. Weevil larvae are legless grubs with few features that obviously distinguish different groups from each other. However, on closer (and patient!) inspection, there are a number of subtle features that enable the identification of many larvae to generic level. One of the questions I will be looking at is: can the larvae of different Irenimus species be differentiated from each other?

The key to any taxonomic work is familiarity—familiarity with both the organisms being studied, and with the methods used in the process. I haven't tried to identify larvae before, so this was my chance to get to grips with the process and characters involved. I was able to find a few larval specimens that I had lying around, and so I tried my hand at dissecting them and getting my eye in regarding larval morphology.

Conveniently enough, my introduction to weevil larvae went well. The process of dissection was straightforward, and I was able to navigate my way around the keys available fairly happily. Unfortunately, I was unable to properly identify the specimen shown above, but that's not too surprising given that only a small proportion of New Zealand's weevil larvae have been described. I also haven't yet got myself a microscope slide mounting procedure that I'm really happy with, so I haven't progressed on to that aspect of the work yet.

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Read:
May BM. 1993. Larvae of Curculionoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera): a systematic overview. Fauna of New Zealand 28: 1–226

Paradis E. 2006. Analysis of Phylogenetics and Evolution using R. 1st Edition. Use R! New York: Springer

Solodovnikov AY. 2007. Larval chaetotaxy of Coleoptera (Insecta) as a tool for evolutionary research and systematics: less confusion, more clarity. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 45(2): 120-127

Freckleton RP. 2009. The seven deadly sins of comparative analysis. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22: 1367–1375

McCulloch D. 2010. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years London: Penguin

Kirkpatrick R. 2007. Path of Revenge. Sydney: Voyager

Psalms 18–21; Hosea 4

Websites:
Wikipedia—Thomas Burnet

Wikipedia—Charles Peirce

Coleoptera Poloniae—Database of Polish Beetles (includes photos)

Listened:
Madball—Legacy

Followed:
Cricket: New Zealand vs South Africa 2nd test match

PhD Week 1: Irenimus and subalpine plateaux

The Denniston Plateau

The first weekend of my PhD was spent on the Denniston Plateau on the West Coast, doing nothing to do with my studies. I was there to participate in a BioBlitz organised by Forest and Bird to raise awareness about the plateau at the same time as finding more about the biota of the area. I focussed on weevils, as is my want, and had a very enjoyable couple of days in one of New Zealand's lesser-known environments. Probably the highlight for me was finding a couple of specimens of Icmalius abnormis a weevil which I haven't collected before and which is in a group on which I'm doing a little work on the side.

Icmalius abnormis

It was back to reality on Monday, and the week was spent doing work on my proposal. This is a document that outlines the intended course that the next three years of my life will take, and goes into some detail as to how exactly I will do what I intend to do. As you can imagine, the document will be rather lengthy, but the overall aim of my project is as follows.

Unidentified species of Irenimus

My PhD will involve looking revising the taxonomy of the New Zealand grassland weevil genus Irenimus. There are approximately 50 species in the genus, but their identification is very difficult, relying primarily upon descriptions written around 100 years ago. The larvae feed on plant roots, while adults feed on vegetation and pollen. Some species can be found in modified pasture, reaching pest levels in some situations. In addition, they are frequently found to be non-target hosts of parasitic wasps introduced to control other pest weevil species. There are a number of interesting ecological questions, such as their degree of host-plant specificity (especially larval host-specificity), what adults and larvae are feeding on in modified pasture, and what sort of parasitoids attack them. However, all of these questions rely on being able to identify the weevils with confidence and accuracy. This is the aspect that I will be focussing on over the next three years. I expect that it will be challenging, but I also expect that it will be enjoyable and am looking forward to seeing where this project will take me, how it develops, and how our knowledge of these creatures will increase.

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Read:
Marra M. 2008. Quaternary fossil beetles from New Zealand. New Zealand Entomologist 31:5–16

Stephens PA, Buskirk SW, Martinez del Rio C. 2007. Inference in ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22(4):192–197

Wild AL, Maddison DR. 2008. Evaluating nuclear protein-coding genes for phylogenetic utility in beetles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48:877–891

The Atavism—Sunday spinelessness: How could I forget Phronima?

Carl Boettiger: Theoretical Ecology and Evolution—Is your phylogeny informative?

Scherer K. 2012. What good is religion anyway?. The Listener 3747

Psalms 13–17; Daniel 1

Followed:
Cricket: New Zealand vs South Africa 1st test match

Listened:
Gotan Project—Tango 3.0

Comback Kids—Turn it Around

Trigonopterus diversity in New Guinea

The weevil genus Trigonopterus is found in the islands of Indonesia, eastwards to Fiji and Samoa. There are around 90 described species, but thanks to the work of Alexander Riedel, the true diversity of the genus is becoming apparent. One of the latest works of Riedel and coauthors was published earlier this year in PLoS ONE, and describes how a DNA barcoding approach is helping to make sense of the group.

In this study, over 1000 specimens were collected from five broad regions of New Guinea. Initial sorting suggested that there were 270 species represented in this group with each area possessing an average of 41 species. After sorting, these specimens had their COI gene sequenced and analysed using a number of different methods. These analyses slightly increased the total number of species to 279, due to the presence of very similar-looking species being present in the sample.

The authors argue that when facing sorting through groups of greater than 50 species, it becomes inefficient to circumscribe them using traditional means. In these situations, DNA barcoding approaches can make the task more tractable and form a solid base for ongoing taxonomic research. In addition, they recommend that Trigonopterus form a key group for use in biodiversity assessment surveys within Melanesia.

This study shows how much there is to learn about the biota of Melanesia. Unfortunately though, the are resources available for researchers interested are relatively scarce. Additionally, most of the research done is by researchers based in places such as Europe and the States, with involvement by Pacific Islanders generally being limited to providing technical assistance. This paper is a case in point. While a 'man blo niu guinea' is a coauthor, he was not involved in the experimental design or in the writing of the paper; both valuable skills for success in science. Locally based scientists in the Pacific will continue to struggle until more funding becomes available from their governments, and they take opportunity to be involved in all parts of the scientific process from design to publication.

References:
Tanzler R, Sagata K, Surbakti S, Balke M, Riedel A (2012) DNA barcoding for community ecology—How to tackle a hyperdiverse, mostly undescribed Melanesian fauna. PLoS ONE 7(1): e28832.

Asian weevil photos

Idly searching the wilds of the internet last night, I came across a couple of places with rather nice photos of Malaysian weevils.

OrionMystery has collated a number of his best weevil photos, with a couple more on the ShutterAsia forum.

Liewwk has also made up a dedicated weevil gallery on his Flickr page.

Both these photographers have some really good shots on offer, so check them out.

New Zealand Weevil Image Database now online

In the last couple of days, the TFBIS funded New Zealand Weevil Image Database has been put online. The project involves taking high-quality photos of representatives of every weevil genus (including the Etheophanus sp. shown above) known from New Zealand. It is a great effort, and one that I will make full use of in my research. Not only will it help assisting others to identify NZ weevils, but it will also serve as a useful aid for overseas workers wanting to become familiar with the diversity of weevils in this country, and help in the efforts to produce a coherent classification of the world weevil fauna. Mainly though, it is a splendid showcase of the diversity and beauty of the weevils in NZ, and shows some of the extraordinary forms of many of our species. My picks for the most bizarre are Stephanorhynchus, Geochus, Ectopsis and Colabotelus.

Apodrosus revision and blog

Apodrosus is a genus of broad-nosed weevil found in the isles of the Caribbean. Apodrosus wilcotti, pictured above, is from Puerto Rico. It has recently been revised in a well written and illustrated paper by Jennifer Girón and Nico Franz. This paper was part of Jennifer's Masters degree project, and the process of conducting the revision was chronicled on her blog, appropriately titled Apodrosus. It's a great insight into the taxonomic process, and the combination of scientific thought, careful observation and personal passion that it requires. Other valuable outputs from Jennifer's work include a poster and a presentation.

Asian Beetle Websites II

In addition to the websites on Asian beetles mentioned previously, here's a couple more which are worth visiting.

The first is the Kisti website that provides online access to issues of Insecta Koreana and the Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, both of which have many articles written in English. In addition they have issues of the Korean Journal of Applied Entomology and the Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Entomology Conference which are in Korean.

The second site is the insect collection database of the Kyushu University Museum (English page). Many of the database entries have got habitus photographs including the Acallinus tuberculatus shown above. Unfortunately, the encoding seems to be incompatible with my font set, which makes it look ugly and hard to navigate on my machine.

They don't publish papers like this anymore...

Modern scientific writing is very detached and impersonal, a style which encourages objectivity but makes it somewhat difficult to read. This wasn't always the case. I came across a paper by Thomas Vernon Wollaston published in the periodical Annals and Magazine of Natural History, one of the top scientific journals of the time. The title is enough to make you want to take a second look: "On certain musical Curculionidae...."

His introduction goes:

Whilst residing in the remote and almost inaccessible village of Taganana (towards Point Anaga), in the north of Teneriffe ... my attention was called to a peculiarity in a beautiful species of Acalles ... which I do not remember to have seen recorded concerning any other Coleopterous insect whatsoever.

Without any further ado, he launches into the methods section:

It was on the 22nd of May that my Portuguese servant ... brought me home eleven specimens of a large Acalles which he had captured within the dried and hollow stems of a plant growing on the rocky slopes towards the sea ... he was about, in this instance, to throw away these rotten stems as worthless, when he was arrested by a loud grating, or almost chirping, noise, as of many creatures in concert ... On shaking the hollow stem, so as to arouse its inmates, and putting his ear alongside it, the whole plant appeared musical, as though enchanted ....

The methods continue:

So pleased was I with the accomplishments of these anomalous musicians, when brought to me, that I felt quite a reluctance (even though an entomologist) to put them to death. I therefore made a compromise with my feelings, and killed only eight of them.

The results of this investigation are that:

... in the case of the Acalles, the pygidium, although roughened, is not very sensibly so; whilst the small portion of the inner surface of the elytra against which (at each successive pulsation) it is brought to play is far less strictly file-like than was the triangular mesothoracic space of Deucalion [a genus of longhorn beetles that also make a noise] ... yet this is certainly the contrivance by means of which this little Curculionidous musician is enabled to perform its anal "song".

I don't think that Nature would appreciate a piece written in this style...

Reference:
Wollaston TV. 1860. On certain musical Curculionidae; with descriptions of two new Plinthi. Annals and Magazine of Natural History Series 3, 6:14-19

Asian Beetle Websites

Today, I came across a number of Asian-origin webpages that have many beautiful photos of beetles in general and weevils in particular.

The first, the 動物區 blog (which Google translates for me as "Animal Zone") is a photo diary focusing on invertebrates. The author has a keen eye and a good camera, and so manages to capture some excellent images of a wide variety of animals. Even better, they've taken the time to identify all the subjects, providing a very useful and informative site. As always, it pays to treat the identifications as tentative, but I haven't seen any grossly incorrect determinations thus far.

Another site has an excellent gallery of weevils. This site has the nice feature of providing photos of several different views of most species. Click on the picture in the gallery, and you get taken to another page that often has photos of the underside, lateral and dorsal aspects of the creature.

The last is the Taiwan Insect Wiki house, a wiki devoted to insects and insect photos. It has a page for their weevil photos, which has a number of very nice photos, including the photo of the beautiful Sphenocorynes ocellatus posted above.

Featured insect: Pantorhytes plutus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

The weevil genus Pantorhytes is a large genus placed in the tribe Pachyrhynchini in the subfamily Entiminae. It consists of over 74 species found primarily in New Guinea, but also being found in the Solomon Islands and Queensland. The species pictured here, P. plutus is found in the Bismarck Archipelago. A map showing the distribution of specimens in the Australian National Insect Collection (see here also) can be found here

Pantorhytes plutus and a number of other species in the genus have become major pests of cacao trees, particularly in PNG. All the species have fairly limited ranges, such that P. szentivanyi, P. albopunctulatus and P. healyi are pests in the Northern Province of PNG, P. torricellianus is a problem in the Sepik region, P. plutus through the Bismarcks, and P. biplagiatus through Bougainville and the Solomon Islands. The genus has had a surprisingly large amount of study done on their biology, including egg development, and control. A couple of studies have looked at their dispersal, including one study that used a radioactive isotope tracing technique, which provided theoretical insight into mathematical models of insect dispersal. A parasitic wasp, Pristocera rufa is known to parasitize P. szentivanyi, though not to such an extent as to be a reliable biological control agent.


They are such a threat, they have made it onto a page detailing the world's worst cocoa problems (though I cannot find any other evidence that Pantorhytes are in Tuvalu), and accordingly there's been a number of studies dealing to their control (such as this one and this one).Biopesticides, including Beauveria bassiana have also proved to be of use in their control. A photo of an infected beetle is shown above.

A circular detailing their control in the Solomon Islands recommends using ants as a form of biological control. Unfortunately, two of the species they recommend for this control are the yellow crazy ant (Anopolepis gracilipes) and the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata). Both these species are highly invasive generalist predators and scavengers which have adverse effects on more than just Pantorhytes weevils in cacao plantations. Should they already be present in the area, their use as a control agent may be encouraged, but they should NOT be introduced anywhere for that purpose if they aren't already there.

References:
Gressitt JL. 1966. The weevil genus Pantorhytes (Coleoptera) involving cacao pests and epizoic symbiosis with cryptogamic plants and microfauna. Pacific Insects 8(4):915-965.
Setliff GP. 2007. Annotated checklist of weevils from the Papuan region (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Zootaxa 1536. 296pp.
Stibick JNL. 1978. The genus Pantorhytes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Division A. I Addistions and changes to the common and major cacao species. Pacific Insects 18(3&4):115-136.

Australian weevil photos

Despite the legendary efforts of Elwood Zimmerman, our knowledge of the weevil fauna of Australia remains rudimentary. Guides to the identification of most species are non-existent and accordingly, very little is known about the life history of a vast proportion of the fauna. What's also interesting is how few people have become involved in the effort to discover more about them. It's not like they're unattractive either. Peter Lang has a number of photos of weevils, particularly the a number of South Australian representatives of the Belidae (including the unidentified specimen here).

There are also a number of photos of the weevils from Brisbane on this site. Take the identifications with a grain of salt though. The "attelabid" is a broad-nosed weevil of some sort, and the latter two species on the Apionidae page appear to be a cryptorhynchine and an attelabid respectively.

Beetles of Mauritius: Syzygops vinsoni

A Scratchpad to promote the study of the beetles of Mauritius has been set up by Edward Baker. It's a reasonable site, with a number of photos of what look like heritage specimens. It's always good having more sites disseminating more information, particularly of interesting islands like Mauritius. However, I do always find Scratchpads to be fairly clunky and hard to get around and unfortunately this site continues that trend.

As mentioned before though, there are some pretty neat photos including the species pictured here which has the very cool name Syzygops vinsoni. The genus Syzygops is restricted to Mauritius and the nearby island of Réunion and is part of a group (the Ottistrini) that is otherwise found in Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific. These weevils have their eyes situated right on top of the head, and are so narrowly separated that they might as well be joined together. You can see them in this photo if you look carefully---the black things in the middle of its head. These weevils are also very sexually dimorphic. This specimen is a male as evidenced by the very boxy back-end of the creature. Females have the apex of the elytra more rounded and normal-looking. The adults are found commonly on tree ferns throughout the hot season (November-April), but unfortunately the larvae are currently unknown.

References:

Wiliams JR. 2000. A revision of the Mascarene weevil genus Syzygops Schönherr (Coleoptera : Curculionidae : Entiminae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 14: 411–432

European Weevil photos Part II

In addition to the website mentioned in my previous post about European weevils, there is a stunning site with a whole bunch of habitus photos of German weevils, including the picture of Chlorophanus viridis shown to the left. There are a whole range of genera pictured and it of great value to people wanting to identify or become familiar with the weevils of the country.

Insects of Brazil

All 11 volumes of the substantial 1956 publication "Insetos do Brasil" is available online. Volume 10 is all about weevils with some interesting notes on their biology, and a few very spectacular pictures and photos. Not spectacular in their quality, but of the amazing insects they represent.

Volumes are available as both full volumes and as chapters.

A quick run down of their contents:
Volume 1: "minor" orders---springtails, dragonflies, lice, webspinners, grasshoppers, mantids and the like.
Volume 2: Heteroptera
Volume 3: Homoptera
Volume 4: Neuroptera, Trichoptera etc
Volume 5: Lepidoptera part I---Microlepidoptera mainly
Volume 6: Lepidoptera part II---Macrolepidoptera
Volume 7: Coleoptera---Adephaga and Archostemata
Volume 8: Coleoptera---Scarabaeoidea, Elateroidea, Cleroidea, Cucujoidea
Volume 9: Coleoptera---Tenebrionoidea, Chryomelidae, Cerambycidae
Volume 10: Coleoptera---Curculionoidea. Weevils!
Volume 11: Hymenoptera---non-Apocrita
Volume 12: Hymenoptera---Apocrita

Canadian Agriculture Entomological Monographs

Canada is a long way from the South Pacific I know. I know also that their insects are very, very different from those in this part of the world which I know and love. But they have done a lot of excellent work on their own insects and now they've decided to open the floodgates and let all and sundry benefit from their work.

On a page that begins: "The Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) has obtained copyright permission from Her Majesty the Queen in the Right of Canada" they have put online in PDF form over 30 years of publications including the extremely valuable "Manual of Nearctic Diptera" volumes 1 to 3, and publications on the weevils and bark beetles of that fair northern country.

I'm looking forward to reaping the benefits...