Auletobius, Desbrochers, 1869

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 : 115

Genus AULETOBIUS Desbrochers

Auletobius Desbrochers des Loges, 1869: 323 , 396.

Type species: Involvulus sanguisorbae Schrank.

DISTRIBUTION. — Auletobius has over one hundred described species, mostly under 3 mm long, distributed over all biogeographical regions, 54 of them Australian (Zimmerman 1994a). Whether the world-wide distribution is due to small size, old age or an artificial assemblage of disparate elements has still to be determined.

DESCRIPTION. — The genus, as at present, may be defined as follows: head transverse, often somewhat constricted behind eyes. Eyes large, strongly protruding. Rostrum straight or curved, cylindrical or widening apicad. Antennae inserting shortly behind middle or at base of narrow section of rostrum. Elytra with largely irregular punctation, lacking scutellary striole. Tibiae straight, with spur formula 1-1-1. Abdomen sexually dissimilar, male with two fused ventrites, female with three fused ventrites; sternite 7 (pygidium) not or hardly exposed. Tergite 9 in male totally membranous, lacking lateral rods. Vagina in female with a pair of long, slender pouches (mycetomes) on either side, as illustrated by Zimmerman (1994a).

Voss (1933) proposed nine subgenera, on largely weak and unreliable characters. Because he missed designating type species, his names were unavailable. The Australian species were placed, without exception, in what he called Parauletes , which included the type species of Metopum .

The species before me from Australia and New Caledonia differ from those present from the northern hemisphere as follows: antennae inserting well basad of midlength of rostrum (measured from anterior margin of eyes to epistome), reaching eyes with segment 2; funicle thin throughout, with all segments longer than wide, and none appreciably wider than others. Prothorax rather abruptly constricted to a relatively wide collar at basal angles. Metepisternum usually smooth and glabrous against elytra, usually with a rather distinct shallow depression along middle, with dense punctation in the depression. Tegminal apodeme weakly expanded at apex. Sternite 8 in female with a laterobasally, rather strongly angulate blade.

These features apply to the Australian Auletobius suturalis species group. The group is part of the subgeneric taxon Metopum Agassiz (1846) , a replacement name for Metopon G. R. Waterhouse (1842 , non Walker 1834), to which the species from New Caledonia also belongs.