Wednesday, December 13, 2006
D0404

An inventory of weevils inhabiting the State Forest of Maricao, western Puerto Rico (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea)

Charles O'Brien, cobrien6@cox.net, University of Arizona, Department of Entomology, Tucson, AZ and Nico Franz, franz@uprm.edu, University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, Department of Biology, PO Box 9012, Mayaguez, PR.

The State Forest of Maricao is located on the western edge of Puerto Rico's Central Cordillera (elevation: 150-900 m). With an area of 4,150 hectares it is the second largest in the Commonwealth system. The vegetation is defined mainly as subtropical wet forest and contains approximately 1,100 vascular plant species. This presentation reports on ongoing efforts to sample the diverse weevil fauna of Maricao State Forest using a variety of collecting methods. Members of the subfamily Cryptorhynchinae are particularly well represented, with numerous putatively new species in such genera as Pseudomus Schoenherr and Neotylodes Chevrolat. The weevils' host plant associations and other life history traits will be investigated as the inventory progresses.


Species 1: Coleoptera Curculionidae Pseudomus
Species 2: Coleoptera Curculionidae Neotylodes
Species 3: Coleoptera Curculionidae Lachnopus curvipes