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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Anthribidae |
| Genus: | Hoherius |
| Species: | H. meinertzhageni
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| Binomial name | |
| Hoherius meinertzhageni (Broun, 1880)
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Hoherius meinertzhageni, the ribbonwood fungus weevil, is an endemic New Zealand beetle[1] that has been recorded feeding on the ribbonwood species Plagianthus regius and Plagianthus divaricatus and the mountain lacebark, Hoheria glabrata.[2]
Taxonomy
editThis species was described by Thomas Broun from a specimen that was collected by F.H. Meinertzhagen in Napier, New Zealand.[3] This holotype specimen is stored in the Natural History Museum, London.[4] Broun originally placed the species within the anthribid genus Anthribus and named the species after its collector.[3] In 1982, Beverley Holloway reassigned Anthribus meinertzhageni to a new genus, Hoherius, named after the genus of plants, Hoheria, on which this species feeds.[4] Hoherius meinertzhageni is the only species of its genus, and it belongs to the subfamily Anthribidae, the fungus weevils.[4]
Description
editHoherius meinertzhageni is green, gray, brown, and lichen colored to blend in with the bark on which they live as adults.[4][5][6] Their body is quite hard and coated in scales.[4] Hoherius meinertzhageni is the only known New Zealand Anthribid species with long antennae and a pronotum wider than it is long.[4]
Adults are typically 3.0–6.7 mm long and 1.5–2.6 mm wide, with females and small males on the shorter side of this spectrum and large males on the longer side.[4][6] Males and females show sexual dimorphism, and there is also dimorphism between the males.[6] Males have a larger head, mandible, and body size than females.[6] The only trait bigger in females is the elytra length.[6] Small males show considerable dimorphism compared to large males, with features between large males and females[6][4]
The head of large male morphs is long, wide, and shield-shaped.[6] Females and small males have smaller, less shield-shaped heads.[6] Male morphs show dimorphism in their head width, mandible length, and antennae length, and there is almost no overlap in the size and shape of the head when comparing them.[6] Likewise, there is a clear variation in head shape, antenna length, eye shape, and mandible size between males and females.[6] Large males’ heads are widest where the mandibles attach and become increasingly narrow anteriorly where the antennae attach.[6] Females have long, narrow heads with a shorter distance between the antennae, eyes, and mandibles than males, with no lobes at the base of their antennae.[6]
Female rostrums are 1.44–1.54 times wider than long, while the rostrum of both male morphs is 1.23–1.30 times wider.[4] Because short rostrums evolved in this group after long rostrums were common across most of Curculionidae, H. meinertzhageni has a shorter rostrum than is typical in weevils.[7] The rostrum of females and small males is flattened.[4][8] The rostrum of large males is the same, but it is more exaggerated and convex under the antennae, and the hairs on the rostrum are denser and form a triangle in the center that fringes out towards the edges.[4] The labrum in H. meinertzhageni is distinct and separated by a groove from the rest of the head, and the maxillae have long, flexible palps.[4] Large males have larger, flattened mandibles than small males.[4]
The antennae of H. meinertzhageni are situated on top of the head towards the middle, with a lobe at the base in males.[7][6] The antennae of both sexes are elbowed, 11 segmented, have small bulbs at the end of each segment, and a club on the last segment of the antennae, with segment 10 being shorter than the rest.[4][8] Female antennae are 1.05–1.28 times longer than the elytra, and male antennae are 2.5–5.0 times longer.[4] Large males have much longer antennae than small males, with the first segment having long, dense hairs.[4] The eyes in both sexes are located on the top of the head on the outside of the antennae and span down the sides of the head.[4][6] Male eyes are 0.18–0.35 times the width of the rostrum, and female eyes are 0.50–0.54 times the width.[4]
Male pronota are 1.73–2.09 times wider than long, while female pronota are 1.57–1.79 times wider.[4] The pronotum is large, widest near the middle, rounded at the top, covered with cream-colored scales, and has a ridge on the edges.[4] This wavy ridge angles backward and stretches the width of the pronotum at the edge closest to the elytra.[4] As this ridge reaches the sides of the pronotum, it angles forward, creating distinct side edges.[7][4]
The elytra are widest in the middle and have multiple circular peaks with black centers, found in greater numbers on large males.[4] A light bark-colored streak runs down the center of the elytra, with green on either side anteriorly.[4] Female elytra are 1.36–1.38 times longer than wide, and male elytra are 1.30–1.33 times longer.[4] The wings are 3 times longer than wide and twice as long as the elytra, with anal veins but without an anal lobe.[4] The abdomen has five ventrites, the first four of which are fused together, seven pairs of spiracles, and air sacs inside.[4] The females of H. meinertzhageni have vulva with a pair of large membranous lobes ventrally, a small spermatheca, and an ovular spermathecal gland longer than the spermatheca.[4] Hoherius meinertzhageni has 5 tarsal segments, with segment one being longer than segments two and three combined.[4] The tarsal claws have a tooth on the inner edge.[4]
The larvae are off-white, crescent-shaped, fleshy, almost cylindrical, and widest in the middle part of the abdomen.[4] The abdomen has nine segments with two folds on each segment.[4] They have large, strong mandibles with mouthparts facing downwards and single-segmented antennae.[4] Anthribidae larvae have true legs, which are presumed to be primitive, but it is also possible that larval legs were redeveloped in Anthribidae.[7][9]
Distribution and Habitat
editHoherius meinertzhageni is endemic to New Zealand and is not found anywhere else in the world.[4] They have a widespread distribution across both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, from Auckland to Southland. It has been collected from sea level to over 1000 metres above sea level.[4][6] The adults and larvae are only found on trees of the Malvaceae family. [4][10][6] They feed and live exclusively on Hoheria glabrata, Plagianthus divaricatus, and Plagianthus betulinus.[4][10] Adults stay on these trees and rarely come to the ground throughout their lives, while the larvae feed inside the stems and branches.[4]
Life Cycle
editHoherius meinertzhageni is a type of weevil, so they undergo four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.[9] In temperate regions such as New Zealand, most weevil species overwinter as adults, lay eggs in spring or early summer, and the larvae develop in late summer.[9] The generation time from egg to adult usually takes four to eight weeks.[9] Very few weevil species have more than one generation per year, so H. meinertzhageni is not likely to be one of the exceptions.[9] Most weevil eggs hatch 7-14 days after being laid, and the newly hatched larvae begin feeding right away wherever their mother deposits her eggs.[9] Three to four larval stages are common for weevils, followed by a one to two-week pupal stage.[9] After pupation, adults feed on the same trees where their larval forms fed throughout early fall to prepare for hibernation.[9] Hoherius meinertzhageni adults have been found on the surfaces of trees between September and April and are active during the day.[6][11][12]
Hoherius meinertzhageni has some very interesting mating tactics. Large males use their flattened rostrums and mandibles as battering rams when fighting for a mate.[6][11] Fighting is initiated when one male comes close to another male guarding a female.[6][11] After a fight, the male who has lost will walk away, and the winner will guard the female and mate with her.[6][11][12] When guarding females, males hold their antennae over the females, using them to locate other males coming in.[6][11][12] When a large male is distracted fighting or patrolling, smaller males will come in to mate with the female.[6][12] The small males avoid fights at all costs, so when the large male returns, he removes the small male without a fight.[6][12] Short antennae in small males may help them sneak past large males for mating as it makes them look more like females, but more research is needed to conclude this.[6] After mating, females have been seen ovipositing eggs into the bark of a dead lacebark tree.[6][11][12]
Diet
editHoherius meinertzhageni feeds exclusively on plant and fungal material, both as larvae and adults.[4] Larvae feed below the epidermis and in the bark of dying branches and twigs.[4][6] The larvae might need the help of plant parasitic fungi to convert the host tissue into something they can digest, but more research is needed to know for sure.[4] Some New Zealand Anthribidae species feed on lichen, but most feed on fungal hyphae and reproductive units exclusive to Ascomycetes.[4][13]
Predators, Parasites, and Diseases
editWeevil larvae have few predators but are very susceptible to parasites because their feeding sites contain them.[9] Very few predators hunt weevils specifically, but generalists such as predatory wasps, spiders, birds, and small mammals can catch and eat them.[9] Parasitoid wasps and flies commonly target the larvae and can feed externally on them because they are protected by the plant.[9] Like most things, weevils are also attacked by viruses, bacteria, and nematodes, but their biggest threat is habitat degradation by humans.[9]
Other information
editClose Relations
editHoherius is most closely related to the genus Proscoporhinus.[8]
Divergence
editThe features of Anthribidae differ from those of other subfamilies of Curculionidae, so it is possible that they diverged from that main grouping a very long time ago, at least in the Cretaceous period.[7][5] This makes Anthribidae one of Curculionidae's oldest and most distinct families.[7]
Sexual Selection
editThe clear head and mandible shape variation between the male morphs is most likely driven by sexual selection.[6] Sexual selection increases head size in large males to use for fighting, but small males maintain their size because of their alternative mating strategies.[6]
References
edit- ^ "NZOR Name Details - Hoherius meinertzhageni (Broun, 1880)". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ Martin, Nicholas. "Plant-SyNZ". Manaaki Whenua–Landcare Research, New Zealand. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ a b Broun, Thomas (1880). Manual of the New Zealand Coleoptera. Wellington. pp. 563–4. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap Holloway, B. A. (1982). "Fauna of New Zealand: Anthribidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) (Number 3)" (PDF). Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
- ^ a b Zimmerman, E. C. (1991). Australian Weevils (Volume 1). CSIRO.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Painting, Christina J. (2022). "Size and shape variation in the male dimorphic head weapons of an anthribid weevil (Hoherius meinertzhageni)". Evolutionary Ecology. 36 (4): 643–662. doi:10.1007/s10682-021-10127-8.
- ^ a b c d e f Crowson, R.A. (1981). The biology of Coleoptera. Academic Press.
- ^ a b c Kuschel, G. (1998). "The subfamily Anthribinae in New Caledonia and Vanuatu (Coleoptera: Anthribidae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 25 (4): 335–408. doi:10.1080/03014223.1998.9518163.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Morris, M.G.; Gray, M. (1991). Weevils. Richmond Publishing.
- ^ a b May, BM (2019). "Larvae of Curculionoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera): a systematic overview". Fauna of New Zealand. 28. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.28.
- ^ a b c d e f McGregor, P. "Bizarre beetles battling - the New Zealand endemic Hoherius meinertzhageni: (Anthribidae)". Youtube.
- ^ a b c d e f McGregor, P. "Hoherius meinertzhageni behaviour & male dimorphism". Youtube.
- ^ Blackwell, M.; Wheeler, Q. (1984). Fungus-insect relationships: perspectives in ecology and evolution. Columbia University Press.