Karocolens tuberculatus

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Karocolens tuberculatus
Conservation status
Extinct  (recently rediscovered, but status not yet changed) (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Curculionidae Subfamily: Molytinae Genus: Karocolens Species: K. tuberculatus
Binomial name
Karocolens tuberculatus (Pascoe, 1877)
Synonyms
Hadramphus tuberculatus Lyperobius tuberculatus

Karocolens 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 2005.

[edit] Description

K. 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.

[edit] Status

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 Burke’s 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 2007 IUCN redlist because their assessment for this species was made in 1996.

[edit] References and external links

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1996). Karocolens tuberculatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 1 May 2007.
• Description and Image
• Image of a Museum specimen
• Past distribution of large weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the South Island, New Zealand, based on Holocene fossil remains
• Discovery brings weevil back from the brink
• 'Extinct' bug found alive and well in high-country reserve