| Hadramphus tuberculatus | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Curculionidae |
| Subfamily: | Molytinae |
| Genus: | Hadramphus |
| Species: | H. tuberculatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Hadramphus tuberculatus (Pascoe, 1877) |
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| Synonyms | |
|
Karocolens tuberculatus |
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Hadramphus tuberculatus (known as the Canterbury knobbed weevil, Spaniard weevil or Banks Peninsula speargrass weevil) is a rare weevil endemic to the Christchurch area in the South Island of New Zealand. It was thought to be extinct from 1922 to 2004. The correct name for this weevil is Hadramphus tuberculatus, the synonymy of Karocolens with Hadramphus is disputed, but in any case the name Hadramphus has priority and is not a junior homonym, nor a nomen oblitum, nor has it been suppressed by the ICZN (see Wikispecies link for details and references).
Contents |
H. tuberculatus is a flightless weevil with a knobbed back. It reaches a length of 11.7 to 16.3 mm and a width of 6.5 to 8.3 mm. It has a dark brown body with greyish-brown scales.
It was apparently common over the Canterbury Plains in the 1870s. The causes for its disappearance were possibly the removing of the speargrass, its host plant, by farmers and the arrival of rats in that region which had eaten the beetles. It was last seen in 1922 until it was rediscovered in late 2004 by research students of the University of Canterbury at Burkes Pass near Lake Tekapo, South Canterbury, New Zealand. It is now listed as nationally endangered in the red list of New Zealand but still listed as extinct in the 2008 IUCN Red List because their assessment for this species was made in 1996.