Melanterius antennalis Lea, 1899

Pinzón-Navarro, Sara V., Jennings, Debbie & Oberprieler, Rolf G., 2017, Host associations of Melanterius Erichson (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cleogonini), with a diagnosis and delimitation of the genus and description of five new species, Zootaxa 4298 (1), pp. 1-77 : 9

Melanterius antennalis Lea, 1899

( Figs. 17–19 )

Melanterius antennalis Lea, 1899: 226

This species was described from Gosford in New South Wales and is thus far only known from this state. It is easily recognisable by its short, straight, ventrally flat and expanded rostrum, the underside forming a long, curved flange beneath each antennal insertion ( Fig. 18 ). This condition occurs in both sexes, but the females are readily recognisable by the position of the unci on the pro- and mesotibiae. The penis ( Fig. 19 ) has a slightly broader body than that of M. acaciae but simpler endophallic sclerites, especially the basal pair.

No host association is recorded for the species. Three specimens in the ANIC are labelled as having been collected on Acacia mearnsii , and we also collected it from this plant species as well as from A. dealbata , A. decurrens , A. filicifolia , A. fimbriata , A. floribunda , A. irrorata , A. longifolia , A. mabellae , A. terminalis and A. trachyphloia ( Table 1). Its true host is likely to be among A. filicifolia , A. floribunda and A. irrorata ( Table 2).

Figures

FIGURES 14 – 19. Dorsal view of habitus and aedeagi of Melanterius acaciae Lea and M. antennalis Lea. 14 – 16: M. acaciae; 14: male (South Africa, Witelsbos); 15: aedeagus (New South Wales, Kangaroo Valley); 16: aedeagus (New Caledonia, Noumea). 17 – 19: M. antennalis; 17: male (New South Wales, Araluen); 18: underside of rostrum, showing lateral flanges (New South Wales, Gibraltar Range NP); 19: adeagus (New South Wales, Gibraltar Range NP).