Elytroteinus geophilus (Lucas) Kuschel, 2008

Kuschel, Guillermo, 2008, Curculionoidea (weevils) of New Caledonia and Vanuatu: Basal families and some Curculionidae, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 197, pp. 99-250 : 213-214

Elytroteinus geophilus (Lucas) n. comb.

Fig. 101

Tylodes geophilus Lucas, 1861: 900 .

Pteroporus s ubtruncatus Fairmaire, 1881: 307.

Elytroteinus subtruncatus – Marshall 1920: 276, pl. 7:8. — Marshall 1931: 280 n. syn.

DESCRIPTION. — Scaling recumbent or raised to leave part of derm exposed, ochrous of different shades, mixed with some white piliform scales on sides of pronotum and here and there on elytra, usually forming a pale transverse design from suture to interstria 5, or beyond, just before middle.

Head smooth behind squamose area, with a fine median carina extending to frontal fovea, with a low tubercle on either side showing a dark dot, densely punctate. Rostrum with numerous, rather large setiform scales.

Prothorax truncate at base, rounded on sides or widening in straight line to about midde, evenly convex across but sometimes with a slight flattening or depression on apical half and inwards from widest part, shallowly punctate, without granules, exposed derm dull but without discernible minisculpture.

Elytra 1.32 x wider than prothorax, 1.27 x longer than combined width, weakly bisinuous at base, with a distinct sinuous entrance on sides before apex; apex in dorsal view broadly rounded or subtruncate owing to a transverse subapical tubercle, area between striae 6 and 8 forming a subcostal margin from basal one quarter onwards, subcosta with a compromised stria 7 in it; stria 10 obsolescent particularly on second half.

Metepisternal suture flat, obsolescent. Ventrites 1 and 2 in male flattened or impressed, in female ventrite 2 convex across, with a shallow impression on either side, remainder of abdomen at a moderately different level with ventrite 2, not or only slightly turned up. Fore femora with a strong tooth, other femora unarmed.

Length: 4.5-7.0 mm.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Two syntypes of Tylodes geophilus are present. Lectotype female, 7.0 x 3.8 mm, ‘Balade, type, n.g. geophilus Lucas, Montrouzier, Coll. Fauvel’, IRSN. Paralectotype male, Balade, Montrouzier, Coll. Fauvel, IRSN. Identified specimens with BPBM, IRSN, NZAC.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia (Balade), Vanuatu ( Epi ) [alsoWallis, W Samoa (Upolu), Fiji (Lakemba, Moce in Lau group), Tonga (Vavau, Tongatapu), Cook Is (Rarotonga, Aitutaki)]. 72 specimens .

HOSTPLANTS. — Reared from larvae ex rather unrelated plants, such as Colocasia esculenta (taro, Araceae ), Hedychium coronarium (ginger, Zingiberaceae ), Dioscorea sp. (yam, Dioscoreaceae ), Inocarpus edulis (fruits, Fabaceae ). Adults occasionally found on Hibiscus (Malvaceae) and Cocos nucifera (Arecaceae) .

ETYMOLOGY. — The compound Greek adjective ‘geóphilus’ is formed from ‘ge’ for land or soil, and ‘phílos’ for loving or friendly.

REMARKS. — It is somewhat strange that Montrouzier picked up E. geophilus in Balade, northeast of New Caledonia, in the 1850’s and nobody else since on this island. The question arises about the true origin of the syntype specimens because the weevil is common on Wallis, an island that Montrouzier had visited shortly before he went to Balade .