it measures over ½ an inch in length, but looks shorter as its head and
thorax are curved downwards. It is a very slender beetle of a uniform
brown tint, but thickly clothed with buff and grey down; the thorax
tapers to the front, and the head is elongated but swells out again in
front, and is furnished with long slender antennae. _Doticus pestilans_
is known as the “Dried Apple Beetle,” from the habit that the beetle
has of laying its eggs in any dried immature apples that are left over
the season upon the trees; in its native state the larvae breed in
the large wattle galls. It measures only about ⅓ of an inch, and is a
short, thickset beetle, with the head turned downward, furnished with
slender clubbed antennae. The general colour is reddish brown; it has
a raised ridge on either side of the wing covers; the fore-legs are
curiously prolonged with large tarsi, and it has a peculiar jumping
habit. Pascoe has described most of our beetles belonging to this group
(Journal of Entomology 1860, and Annals and Magazine of Natural History
1859).
[Illustration: =Fig. 82.=--_Doticus pestilans_
(Olliff).
The Jumping Anthribid or “Dried-apple Beetle.”
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
Family 48. Weevils.
CURCULIONIDAE.
The Weevils or Snout Beetles are one of the largest and best defined
groups of the Coleoptera, and though they comprise a great number of
very different looking beetles in shape, they all have the front of
the head produced into a more or less elongated snout with the jaws
placed at the tip, and with the distinctly elbowed antennae standing
out on either side of the snout, forming a regular angle. Most of
them are provided with well developed wings, the elytra being usually
very solid; and the whole insect is encased in thick armour plate
integument. The majority are slow, sluggish beetles, that trust as a
rule more to their shape and protective colouration harmonising with
their surroundings, than to their activity. They feed chiefly upon
foliage and bark, and when at rest cling to the twigs or stalks of
their food plants, falling at the least alarm to the ground, where
they remain perfectly motionless, with their legs and antennae tightly
closed until the danger has passed.
Those living in the dry western country are represented by curious
wingless forms with very short stout snouts, and are usually found
under logs and stones in open grass lands; while in the tropical scrubs
they are chiefly arboreal, and frequently richly coloured. They are all
vegetarian in their habits both in the larval and perfect states; some
infest seeds, others destroy the buds, foliage or roots of plants and
do a great deal of damage to farms and gardeners’ crops. About 1200
described species are listed in Masters’ Catalogue, and a great number
of new species have been added during the last few years by Messrs.
Blackburn and Lea in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.
Wales, and Transactions of the Royal Society of S. Australia. Pascoe,
one of the most prolific writers on this family, described a great many
between the years 1869–1883 (Journ. Linn. Soc. & Ann. Nat. Hist.). They
have been divided into a number of sub-families, among which only the
most important can be noticed here.
The remarkable Long-necked Weevil, _Rhadinosomus lacordairei_, measures
under ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform dull reddish brown tint
with a silvery white spot on either side of the rounded elytra, which
are produced into a spine on each side. It breeds in the cavity in the
large _Brachyscelid_ galls, feeding on the woody tissue; Lea says that
in Tasmania it is a pest to strawberry growers.
The members of the Genus _Myllocerus_ are dainty little oval weevils
found resting upon grass stalks or among the foliage of small shrubs
peculiar to North Queensland and North West Australia. _Myllocerus
carinatus_ is about ⅓ of an inch in length, and is finely striated and
densely clothed with metallic green scales. _Catasarcus spinipennis_
is another West Australian insect of a brownish buff tint, with the
abdomen broadly rounded; and the hind portions of the elytra covered
with sharp spines. About 40 species of this genus are described, all
of which with one exception are confined to West Australia. _Cherrus
ebeninus_ is one of the large stout black weevils common in the bush
around Sydney, where it is usually found clinging to the twigs of the
blood-wood, _Eucalyptus corymbosa_. It is black, with broad rugose
thorax and ribbed wing covers.
[Illustration: =Figs. 83= and=84.=--_Wattle
Weevils._
=83.= _Rhinotia hœmoptera_ (Kirby). The Red Weevil.
=84.= _Leptops tribulus_ (Fabr.). The Wattle
“Pig-beetle.”
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
The Genus _Leptops_ contains a large number of very characteristic
beetles feeding upon the foliage of wattles and other scrub trees. They
are usually grey, buff, or dark brown insects with thickened snouts
and broad bodies. The Apple-root Borer, _Leptops hopei_, is sometimes
a pest to the orchardist, damaging the roots of his apple trees; the
beetle emerging from the soil crawls up the tree trunk, and laying her
eggs upon the leaf, turns the edges over and gums them together with a
sticky secretion; the young grubs hatch and crawl down to the roots.
_L. tribulus_, often called by the Sydney boys the “Wattle Pig,” feeds
upon the foliage of the black wattle; it is a much larger species,
about 1 inch in length; dark brown to black in colour; the broad
rounded body covered with short blunt spines, thickest towards the
apex. The Grey-banded Leaf Weevil, _Ethemaia sellata_, described from
S. Australia, has a wide range over the interior. The larvae are pale
green legless creatures about ⅓ of an inch in length, lightly clothed
with short hairs; they remain buried in the soil, coming out at night
to feed upon plants, but if disturbed by a light they will drop to the
ground and bury themselves very quickly. The beetle is ⅓ of an inch in
length, dark brown, shaded with grey, which forms an irregular pattern
on the thorax, legs, and elytra; rugose, deeply pitted; and the whole
surface is clothed with white and brown scales.
The AMYCTERINAE are a large group of weevils with such short thick
snouts that they are quite unlike the typical forms generally found
in open forest country among grass or hiding under logs or stones;
they are wingless, the elytra soldered together forming a very thick
solid integument. Macleay described a great number (Trans. Ent. Soc.
N.S.W. 1865). _Psalidura elongata_, common in the interior, measures
slightly over 1 inch in length; is of a uniform black colour with a
reddish brown tint; the short head and flattened thorax are finely
granulated, with the elytron closely ribbed and punctured. _Talaurinus
tuberculatus_, about ⅔ of an inch in length, is black, very coarsely
granulated on the thorax, with the whole of the flattened elytron
thickly covered with blunt tubercules. Nearly 90 species or this
genus have been described, chiefly by Macleay, ranging all over
Australia. _Amycterus draco_ is one of the most remarkable armour
plated species in the interior; it is black, with a small deeply
ribbed head and angulated thorax; and the broad, somewhat elongated
elytron is turned down at the extremity and covered with rows of
raised bosses. _Acantholophus echinatus_, as the generic name implies,
represents a group containing a number of species covered with spines
that extend even over the upper surface of the head and thorax. The
Genus _Cubicorrhynchus_ contains the smaller ground beetles, almost
cylindrical, with short rounded head and thorax: they dwell under
stones, and when exposed lie quite motionless as if dead, their dull
brown tints matching the ground. _C. morosus_, about ⅓ of an inch in
length, is of the usual form and colour, with a very wide range, and
often very numerous in grass lands.
The GONIPTERINAE comprise a number of diverse forms found upon foliage
clinging to the twigs. The Genus _Oxyops_ contains a number of stout
moderate-sized beetles which are remarkable for the curious habits
of their legless slug-like larvae, which, covering themselves with
a slimy secretion, crawl about over the surface of the eucalyptus
leaves, feeding upon the epidermis and covering their backs with their
excrement; when full grown they pupate on the ground among the rubbish
beneath their food plant. _Oxyops concreta_ has a narrow short head
with the thorax broadest behind; the elytra broadly swollen, rounded,
deeply striated, and clothed with fine scales. _Bryachus squamicollis_
has a wide range over Australia, and is usually found clinging to the
twigs of stunted gum trees; it measures about ½ an inch in length;
is of a uniform dark chocolate brown, but thickly mottled all over
with fine grey and black scales. This beetle forms rounded cells of
a brown gummy substance (very much like large Lecanium scales) which
are attached to the twigs, in each of which she places three eggs;
from these emerge pale yellow oval larvae; when full grown the larva
is an oval smooth rounded grub of a purplish tint, legless, flattened
on the ventral surface, and with the head hidden from above, like a
“pear-slug” larva; when adult it falls or crawls to the ground, and
pupates among the rubbish. Mr. Gurney first discovered the curious
egg-capsules on trees in the Bogan River district N.S.W. _Gonipterus
gibberus_ is a small reddish-brown beetle with a white blotch on either
side of the elytra; it has an elongated head and thorax, and is usually
found clinging tightly to the tip of a eucalyptus twig. _Aterpus
cultratus_, typical of the next group, measures ⅓ of an inch in length;
the dorsal surface is flattened; is of a general dull brown tint, with
the head, front of the thorax and tip of the abdomen buff. Usually
found under dead bark on tree trunks, its larva forms a loose cocoon of
bits of bark on the stems of Melaleuca bushes. _Lixus mastersi_, the
weed weevil, is very common in neglected gardens, as its larvae feed in
the roots of _Amaranthus_ and _Chenopodium_, causing them to swell out
into cylindrical galls; the beetle is ⅓ of an inch in length, slender
and cylindrical in form, of a light brown tint, but when freshly
emerged is covered with a yellow mealy pubescence which soon rubs off.
The “Botany Bay Diamond Beetle,” as Donovan described it, _Chrysolophus
spectabilis_, is one of our commonest and at the same time one of
the most beautiful of our weevils. It has a very wide range all over
Australia, and is found wherever the black wattle thrives, but also
feeds upon many other species. It is very variable in size, measuring
to 1 inch in length; is of a uniform black tint, but so thickly covered
with patches of bright metallic green scales, that in freshly emerged
specimens it seems more green than black. It deposits its eggs about
the butt of the wattle tree buried in the bark; the stout fleshy grubs
form irregular tunnels in the wood.
The Elephant Beetle, _Orthorrhinus cylindrirostris_, whose stout
fleshy grubs do a good deal of damage to citrus trees, has a very wide
range over Australia: it is a dark brown weevil, covered on the dorsal
surface with fine buff and grey scales; the thorax is covered with
irregular bosses which form ridges on the elytra. It measures about ½
an inch in length, and has a long slender snout turned down in front,
and very long fore-legs terminating in large feathered tarsi; in its
native state it feeds upon gum trees. _O. klugi_ is a much smaller
species that feeds and breeds in wattles, but is also known as an
orchard pest, infesting the canes of vines, and also eating the leaf
buds.
[Illustration: =Fig. 85.=--_Chrysolophus
spectabilis_ (Fabr.).
The Botany Bay Diamond Beetle.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
_Eurhamphus fasciculatus_ is one of our largest and most remarkable
looking weevils; it measures 2½ inches in length, and is of a general
black tint, but the greater portion is finely clothed with grey and
rusty red scales, which give it a uniform buff tint; it is further
clothed with tufts of long soft reddish brown hairs forming a raised
ridge down either side of the thorax, and are scattered in rows on the
elytra intermixed with small tufts of long grey hairs, giving it a very
remarkable spiny appearance. It is a rare insect as a rule, ranging
from Pine Mountain, Queensland, to the Clarence River, N.S. Wales; but
many years ago Masters when collecting in the north came upon a large
dead pine tree in the scrub literally covered with hundreds of these
great weevils boring into the dead timber with their long slender
snouts, making a distinct scratching sound. It is therefore probable
that they are confined to the strip of country where the Hoop or
Maryborough Pine grows, and breed on it.
[Illustration: =Fig. 86.=--_Myrmacicelus
formicarius_ (Chev.).
The Ant-like Weevil.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
_Tranes sparsus_, ⅓ of an inch in length, is common among the coarse
palm-like foliage of the Currawong; it is of a uniform reddish brown
tint with a slender snout, rounded flattened thorax, and oval,
flattened, finely striated elytra. A smaller black species, _T.
xanthorrhoeae_, is found in the foliage of the grass trees. The Genus
_Belus_ contains a number of very slender weevils with the snout
standing out in front of the head, long antennae, thickened thighs,
and the slender elytra coming to a point at the apex. They feed upon
wattles, and are very active, flying about in the heat of the day.
_Belus semipunctatus_ is about ¾ of an inch in length; of a uniform
dark reddish brown tint, with a broad white stripe down each side
of the thorax and down the centre of the back, with small spots on
each side. _B. bidentatus_ is a stouter thickset beetle; and is of a
darker brown colour, with a rounded buff spot on either side of the
wing covers. _B. plagiatus_ is a smaller almost black species, richly
variegated with reddish yellow spots and blotches; it comes from the
more tropical scrubs of N.S. Wales and Southern Queensland. _Rhinotia
hoemoptera_, a very handsome slender cylindrical weevil, is about ¾ of
an inch in length, with the snout furnished with thickened antennae
turned down below the head; it is rich black with bright brick red
wing covers which have a fine dorsal black stripe down the centre. The
curious large-headed larvae feed in the stems of the Sweet-scented
Wattle, _Acacia suaveolens_. _Eurhynchus acanthopterus_ is the type
of another group, which has a shorter snout, and the head broad and
rounded, fitting closely into the somewhat attenuated thorax; the body
is broadly oval, and the wing covers furnished with short conical
spines in the centre of the back. It measures about ½ an inch, and
is of a uniform reddish brown tint. The Ant Weevil, _Myrmacicelus
formicarius_, usually found crawling about on the trunks of wattle
trees, is a shining black weevil about ⅙ of an inch in length, and is
as ant-looking as its names suggest. The Genus _Balaninus_ represents
the tiny little rounded weevils with very long slender snouts adapted
for feeding upon seeds. _B. amoenus_ is black spotted with white; is
almost oval in form, and about ⅙ of an inch in length. It feeds upon
the ripe fruit of the little yellow fig, _Ficus rubiginosa_.
The Genus _Laemosaccus_ contains a number of short flattened weevils
of a general black or dark brown colour ornamented with white or buff
down; they are generally found feasting upon the bark of freshly fallen
tree-trunks, particularly wattle and eucalypts, in which they also bore
holes and deposit their eggs. _Laemosaccus electilis_ measures ¼ of an
inch in length; is black with white pubescence on the under surface,
and white markings on the tips of the wing covers, which are finely
striated. My specimens come from Condobolin, N.S. Wales.
The members of the Genus _Haplonyx_ contain a number of curious,
short, broadly rounded beetles generally found clinging to the twigs
of eucalypts, but their larvae breed in the fleshy galls of the
Brachyscelid coccids, where they destroy the gall makers and pupate
in the cavity. _Haplonyx centralis_ is a typical dark brown species
with a large white circle occupying the centre of the back. _Perissops
ocellatus_, about ½ an inch in length, comes from the Tweed River N.S.
Wales and Southern Queensland: it is of a general light brown tint; is
oval and rounded in form, with the wing covers marked with buff, so
that when viewed from behind it resembles a pair of eyes and nose on a
man’s face.
[Illustration: =Figs. 87 and 88.=--Kurrajong Weevils.
=87.=--_Axionicus insignis_ (Pascoe).
The Mimic Bark-weevil.
=88.=--_Tepperia sterculiae_, (Lea).
The Seed-pod Weevil.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
_Axionicus insignis_ is always found upon the trunk of the Kurrajong
tree hidden in the crevices of the bark, where in spite of its size
(¾ of an inch in length) it is very difficult to detect, owing to the
exact blending of its white grey and brown markings with the tints of
the bark. It lays its eggs in the injured bark; the larvae are typical
obese legless white grubs; they feed between the bark and the wood
often in such numbers as to kill large branches. They pupate in regular
oval cocoons formed of gnawed wood and bark. _Tepperia sterculiae_
breeds in the seed pods of the Kurrajong, and is a smaller but
somewhat similar tinted beetle clothed with brown and grey scales, the
latter forming a well defined patch toward the apex of the wing covers.
The two species of the Genus _Enteles_ are smaller, smooth, shining,
black beetles, with the head and legs curving underneath the body;
they are both found in the semi-tropical scrubs of the north. _Enteles
vigorsi_ is marked with two white transverse lines crossing the elytra;
while _E. ocellatus_ has more parallel lines crossing the transverse
ones, making an eye-like pattern upon the back. The Grass-tree Weevil,
_Trigonotarsus rugosus_, is 1½ inches in length; is of a uniform
black colour; and of the typical Calandra or palm weevil shape, with
a slender curved snout, and small head sunk into the thorax, with the
dorsal surface of the thorax and elytra flattened. The obese white
larva feeds in the roots of the grass-trees. Allied to this are the two
tiny cosmopolitan grain weevils, _Calandra orizae_ and _C. granaria_,
which are destructive pests to all kinds of grain and other food stuffs.
Family 49. Longicorns.
CERAMBYCIDAE.
The longicorn beetles from their number, variety, size, and the damage
they do to timber and plants, are well known beetles, and have always
been a favourite group with collectors. They are usually elongate
in form, with powerful gnawing jaws, and long slender many-jointed
antennae standing out in front of the head, the basal joint often half
encircled by the large compound eye; the elytron is always divided down
the centre, and the large hind wings well adapted for flight are folded
beneath them; the legs are strongly developed, well adapted either for
running about or clinging to their food plant.
They deposit their eggs in bark or timber; the larvae burrow into
the tissue beneath, upon which they feed; they often remain, long
cylindrical or flattened naked grubs, for several years before they
pupate in the end of their last gallery.
They are divided into three large sub-families by modern entomologists;
our species have been chiefly described by Newman in “The Entomologist”
1842; “Annals of Natural History” 1840; and a number of other Journals.
Pascoe contributed a great many papers to over half a dozen of the
leading entomological societies in England between 1857 and 1875. Hope,
in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1841, and
other Transactions, added largely to our list, while Messrs. Boisduval,
Germer, White, Saunders, and others described odd specimens. In our own
Journals, Macleay and Blackburn have also dealt with these beetles.
The PRIONINAE comprise a number of large broad thickset beetles with
the front coxae large and transverse, and the prothorax having well
developed side margins. The determination of several of our commonest
species was a matter of some doubt, so I submitted most of our common
forms to Professor Lamare of Brussels, who has identified them and
enabled me to speak with some authority.
_Sceleocantha glabricollis_ is one of the shortest thickset forms;
about 1¼ inches in length; of the usual uniform reddish brown tint;
the small shining thorax furnished with a fine spine on either side;
and the broad rounded elytron finely granulated. It is found along the
southern coast of N.S. Wales. The common large white grub which bores
in the trunks of the honeysuckle (_Banksia serrata_) growing along
the coast of the south-east of N.S. Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, is
the larva of _Paroplites australis_ described in 1842 by Erichson; in
most of our Museum collections it is known as _Macrotoma servilis_.
It is variable in size, measuring to 2 inches in length, and is of
a dull dark brown tint, with a flattened rugose thorax with serrate
edges. _Eurynassa australis_ is a large somewhat slender species 2¼
inches in length; the broad flattened dull coloured thorax is marked
in the centre with two shining triangular patches pointing toward the
head; the reddish brown elytra are finely granulated. _E. odewahni_ is
a smaller species, with the thorax more constricted, shining, rugose,
and serrate on the margins; it is found in the interior, and has an
extended range westward from N.S. Wales to W. Australia. _Agrianome
spinicollis_ comes from the north-east of N.S. Wales; it is a broader
more flattened form, about 2 inches in length; the thorax is rounded
and serrate on the sides; and the general colour is light reddish
brown. _Iotherium metallicum_ hardly measures over ½ an inch; is of a
rich metallic purple tint; the thorax is produced into a broad spine on
the sides; and the wing covers are broadly round at the apex. The male
is a much smaller coppery tinted beetle, and was described under the
name of _Phaolus macleayi_; it is usually taken on grass stalks in open
forest country.
[Illustration: =Fig. 89.=--_Eurynassa odewahni_
(Pascoe).
The great brown Longicorn.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
The CERAMBYCINAE comprise a much larger division of the longicorn
beetles, differing from the last group in having the first coxae not
greatly extended transversely; the thorax not margined, and the last
joint of the maxillary palpus usually broad. _Pachydissus sericus_ is
a slender silvery dark brown beetle about 1¼ inches in length, with
the tip of the wing covers spined and the basal joint of the antennae
thickened. It is generally found clinging to the rough bark of tree
trunks. They deposit their eggs in the bark of _Acacia longifolia_; the
larvae bore all through the trunk and larger branches; they have a wide
range over the southern half of Australia.
[Illustration: =Fig. 90.=--_Pachydissus sericus_
(Newman).
The Silvery Longicorn, breeding in the stems of _Acacia
longifolia_.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]