DRYOPHTHORINAE, Schoenherr, 1825

Peck, Stewart B., 2009, The beetles of St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles (Insecta: Coleoptera): diversity and distributions, Insecta Mundi 2009 (106), pp. 1-34 : 25

SUBFAMILY DRYOPHTHORINAE

TRIBE SPHENOPHORINI

Metamasius hemipterus (Linnaeus) 1758: 377 ( Curculio ); Fleutiaux and Sallé 1890: 454; Hustache 1932: 380. = M. sericeus Olivier 1807: 84 ; Blackwelder 1944-1957: 913. Distribution. Antigua, Barbados, Bequia, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, St. Vincent. Mexico to Panama, South America ; widespread Antilles and Latin America . Notes. The common name is West Indian sugarcane borer (Vaurie 1966). This species is associated with a variety of monocot plants, especially those that are rotting, broken, damaged or weakened. Banana and sugarcane are the two plants most frequently mentioned in the literature; however, the species has also been recorded from coconut and royal palm sheaths, stumps of Iriartea ventricosa Martius and Jessenia batua Burret in Brazil, and has been intercepted at customs in a stem of a species of Chamaedorea . In Costa Rica, numerous adults have been collected on fermenting palm trunks. Adults have also been recorded on a variety of rotting fruits. Economic significance. Woodruff and Baranowski (1985) report that there is debate over the economic status of this species. Certainly the species has been associated with both banana and sugarcane but its impact, especially on the former, is uncertain. They appear to prefer unhealthy or injured plants and thus may not be the primary pests but rather of a secondary nature. Regardless, the adult feeding and larval infestations cause serious damage, at least in sugarcane, especially if the plants have already been damaged by other insects or rats. Populations may build in damaged plants left out to rot and may reinfest subsequent crops.