DRYOPHTHORINAE, Schoenherr, 1825

Peck, Stewart B., 2011, The diversity and distributions of the beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the northern Leeward Islands, Lesser Antilles (Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Nevis, Saba, St. Barthélemy, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, and St. Martin-St. Maarten, Insecta Mundi 2011 (159), pp. 1-54 : 41-42

SUBFAMILY DRYOPHTHORINAE

TRIBE RHYNCHOPHORINI

SUBTRIBE LITOSOMINA

Sitophilus linearis (Herbst) 1797: 5 ( Rhynchophorus ); Fleutiaux and Sallé 1890: 456 ( Calandra ); Hustache 1932: 385; Cooter 1983: 185; Bennett and Alam 1985: 30; Valentine and Ivie 2005: 281; Ivie et al. 2008b: 276; Pérez-Gelabert 2008: 137. Distribution. Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Guana, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Barthélemy, St. Croix. USA (FL, LA), Costa

Rica, South America, Old World ; widespread New World. Notes. Adults are often found in fallen tamarind pods.

SUBTRIBE SPHENOPHORINA

Metamasius hemipterus (Linnaeus) 1758: 377 ( Curculio ); Fleutiaux and Sallé 1890: 454; Hustache 1932: 380; Ivie et al. 2008b: 276; Pérez-Gelabert 2008: 137. = M. sericeus Olivier 1807: 84 ; Blackwelder 1944-1957: 913. Distribution. Antigua, Barbados, Bequia, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Hispaniola, 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 of Chamaedorea sp. 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. The beetles appear to prefer unhealthy or injured plants and thus may not be 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.