Fauna of New Zealand Number 45  Nemonychidae, Belidae, Brentidae (Insecta : Coleoptera : Curculionoidea)

G Kuschel

Weevils are insects with a fascinating ancient history, having existed for at least 140 million years, since the era of gymnosperms (cycads and conifers) and dinosaurs. The word weevil was used for any coleopteron in the 9th to 15th centuries, but is now almost exclusively reserved for beetles of the superfamily Curculionoidea. In New Zealand there is a prevalence of weevils over any other comparable group of beetles in the composition of local faunas.

Weevils are divided into two groups, Orthoceri, defined by having all antennal segments following a straight line, and Gonatoceri, which have ‘broken’ or elbowed antennae. All weevils are characterised by having a head extended into a snout or proboscis, called a rostrum. The mouthpart features of early weevils strongly suggest that ancestral weevils were pollen-feeders, and all Nemonychid species still have pollen as their sole or main diet. The importance of weevils as plant-eaters today can be beneficial or detrimental, and host-specific weevils may be imported as bio-control agents for introduced plant pests.

This contribution revises these three families, proposes four new genera, erects six new species and proposes four new combinations. Although there are only 16 native and one introduced species in New Zealand, these families are of considerable biological, phylogenetic, and biogeographical interest. This contribution is devoted to three of the four Orthoceri families in New Zealand, ie: Nemonychidae, Belidae, and Brentidae (the other family, Anthribidae, is covered in Fauna of NZ 3). The text covers species richness, composition, biogeography, taxonomy, hosts, systematics, cladistics and keys.

Contributor Guillermo (Willy) Kuschel was born in Southern Chile, gaining his PhD in 1953 from the Universidad de Chile. He was invited to New Zealand in 1962 to head the Systematics Section of Entomology Division, DSIR. He has a special interest in weevils, especially those of conifers and other early plant groups and has authored over 100 publications on taxonomy, biology, ecology, biogeography, palaeontology and higher classification of weevils.

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Author: G Kuschel
ISBN: 978-0-47-809348-3
Publisher: Manaaki Whenua Press
Publication date: 2003
Pages: 100
Format: Paperback