FNZ 45 - Nemonychidae, Belidae, Brentidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) - Biogeography
Kuschel, G 2003. Nemonychidae, Belidae, Brentidae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Fauna of New Zealand 45, 100 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
45.
ISBN 0-478-09348-9 (print),
).
Published 28 Apr 2003
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/9143DAB5-942F-4E3B-8E68-D47BB28498D5
Biogeographical Notes
Of the four families of orthocerous weevils in New Zealand, only two extend their relationships to South America. These families replicate a well known southern trans-Pacific pattern, whereas the other two families show a clear connexion with Australia, New Guinea, and New Caledonia only.
Nemonychidae. New Zealand has one nemonychid genus, Australia seven, and Chile four. Representatives of the tribe Rhinorhynchini occur in all three areas. The Australian members of the tribe are associated with Araucariaceae and their larvae move about on their backs, whereas the New Zealand and Chilean species live on Podocarpaceae and Fagaceae and move in the normal way on their venters. The closest affinity of the Zelandic Rhinorhynchus Sharp is with the Chilean Nannomacer Kuschel, but the interrelationship of the two is remote. All four New Zealand species are oligophagous and confined to Podocarpaceae/Phyllocladaceae, none being confined to just one host species or genus. The two Chilean species of Nannomacer are stenophagous, each species is associated with only one host-plant genus: N. germaini (Voss) with Podocarpus, and N. wittmeri Kuschel with Saxegothaea.
Anthribidae. Holloway (1982) listed 58 endemic species in 22 genera for New Zealand. She found eleven genera to be eminently endemic, to be regarded as 'part of the archaic (endemic) element of New Zealand biota', and four others endemic but showing relationships towards New Caledonia. The other seven genera are shared with New Caledonia, and two of them also with Australia (Holloway 1982, Kuschel 1998). The genera common to the two areas are Androporus Holloway, with one species in New Zealand and three in New Caledonia, Cacephatus Blackburn with six and three species respectively, Dasyanthribus Holloway with one each, Helmoreus Holloway with one and seven, and Liromus Holloway and Micranthribus Holloway with one or more each. Cacephatus and Helmoreus also occur in Australia with one species each. In addition, Hoherius Holloway is close to Proscoporhinus Montrouzier, and Lophus Holloway to Perroudius Holloway from New Caledonia. By contrast, Chile does not show obvious relationships with New Zealand in its anthribid fauna.
Belidae. Three subfamilies are included in the Belidae and two are represented in New Zealand: Belinae and Aglycyderinae; the third subfamily Oxycoryninae is absent. Belinae are constituted by two major groups or tribes, Pachyurini and Belini; both groups are present in Australia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, but in New Zealand only Pachyurini occurs. This tribe has five species in three genera in New Zealand, all endemic. Agathinus is a very close relative of the Australian Cyrotyphus Pascoe, the other two genera are adelphic to each other and together are adelphic to Sphinctobelus Zimmerman of Australia. The subfamily Aglycyderinae is a remarkable group of weevils confined almost entirely to the Pacific islands, with one species extending to New Zealand. This species is a member of Aralius Kuschel which has three further species (two still with unpublished names) in New Caledonia.
Brentidae. The New Zealand native fauna consists of one species of Brentinae and five of Apioninae. Brentinae are pantropical, hence poorly represented in New Zealand and not at all in Chile. The brentine Lasiorhynchus Lacordaire belongs to the tribe Ithystenini which has its main centre in the Oriental and Australian areas. It has no relatives in New Caledonia and remote ones only in Australia, Vanuatu, and Fiji. The genus has consistently been placed alongside the Sulawesan genus Prodector Pascoe since Lacordaire (1866) proposed it. The apionine fauna has four endemic genera, but Neocyba Kissinger is closely related to the New Caledonian Rhadinocyba Faust. The other three genera appear to be closer to the faunal element of New Caledonia and Vanuatu than to Australia.
In summary, out of 32 genera of native orthocerous weevils in New Zealand, 24 (75%) are endemic.The closest biogeographic relationship of this fauna is first with New Caledonia, then with Australia, and then with the area northwest of New Caledonia to Sulawesi and across the southern Pacific to Chile.