Ocotea oblonga (Meisn.) Mez (Lauraceae)

Smith, Sarah M. & Cognato, Anthony I., 2010, A taxonomic revision of Camptocerus Dejean (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), Insecta Mundi 2010 (148), pp. 1-88 : 75-76

Hosts. Ocotea oblonga (Meisn.) Mez (Lauraceae) , Protium amazonicum Swart (Burseraceae) .

Biology. Camptocerus noel colonize large branches ranging from 5 cm diameter to more than 20 cm. Females create an entrance tunnel running in a transverse plane toward the center of the stem. From this tunnel, one or two circumferential branches are added creating maternal galleries. The galleries closely resemble those of C. aeneipennis . Camptocerus noel aggregate in leaves around host trees ( Smith 2009) and perform maturation feeding on leaves as (von Winning 1930; Smith 2009).

Discussion. Camptocerus noel has been considered C. aeneipennis for many years and is identified as C. aeneipennis in collections. However, the male genitalia clearly diagnoses the species. The apex of the median lobe is rounded in C. noel (mushroom shaped in C. aeneipennis ); the sensory claspers are spatulate in C. noel (scythe shaped in C. aeneipennis ). In addition to the morphological characters, molecular characters support the validity of this species. The species is differentiated from C. aeneipennis by a 12.5% sequence divergence of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 and has a 5bp insertion in the D2F1- D3R2 region of nuclear ribosomal 28S. Little nucle-

otide variation is seen within each species (Smith

and Cognato, unpublished).

Geographic variation was found in several spe-

cies, but most notable are the size differences and

slight color variation of C. noel . The elytra of C.

noel is a brilliant metallic green in northern South

America and the color changes to a metallic bronze

in southern Peru and to metallic blue in southern

Peru and Bolivia. Color also varies between teneral

and mature adults; mature adults are darker col-

ored.

Etymology. Noel (English) = Christmas (used as

a noun in apposition). This species commonly dis-

plays ‘Christmas’ colors: crimson pronotum and

brilliant metallic green elytra.