Asynonychus cervinus (Boheman)

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 : 122-123

Asynonychus cervinus (Boheman)

Fig. 9

Naupactus cervinus Boheman, 1840: 17 .

Asynonychus cervinus – Hustache 1947: 138. — Lanteri 1986: 165, 167.

DECRIPTION. — Predominantly brownish grey, with a characteristic oblique white patch on either side of middle of elytra. Vestiture on elytra consisting of mostly oval scales not fully covering derm, of short, more or less appressed squamiform setae between scales, and a few longer, semierect squamiform setae on posterior half of alternate interstriae. Basal half of rostrum with a sharp median sulcus extending over forehead to hind part of a slight postocular constriction of head. Eyes in dorsal view asymmetric, strongly protruding, somewhat pressed backwards, protruding much more gently from the front than from the back. Flightless.

Length: 6.0- 8.5 mm.

DESCRIPTION. — New Caledonia. 3 females, Nouméa, Anse Vata, VIII.1979 on Rubiaceae , G. A. Samuelson; Loyalty Is., Maré, 22.I.2002, C. Mille and D. Wamethu, on avocado ( Persea americana ) and Citrus species , damaging shoots and young leaves. 65 specimens.

BIOLOGY. — Feeding rather indiscriminately on roots in the soil as larvae, feeding mostly on young growth and softer leaves of great many plant groups as adults. Known in the field and literature of economic entomology as the ‘Fuller’s rose weevil’.

ETYMOLOGY. — The Latin epithet ‘cervínus’ stands for fawn, the yellowish brown colour of deer (cervus).

REMARKS. — An advenous species widespread in the world. The species was described from Brazil, where biparental populations exist, but away from the original area only parthenogenetic generations are known.