Curved-snouted Weevil (Tapiromimus gibbirostris)  

This species was described in 1877, it is/was endemic to the highly isolated island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

The Curved-snouted Weevil was already rare when it was first discovered.:

“This is one of the rarest of the Cossonids which have hitherto been found on St. Helena, – seven examples being all that I could obtain during our six months’ sojourn in the island.” [1]

***

The Curved-snouted Weevil appears to have made some kind of ‘comeback’ in 1965/66, when as much as 42 specimens were collected, however, it was not recorded during more recent searches in 2005/06 and is feared to have become extinct. [2] 

*********************

References:

[1] T. Vernon Wollaston: Coleoptera Sanctae-Helenae. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row 1877 
[2] Howard Mendel; Philip Ashmole; Myrtle Ashmole: Invertebrates of the Central Peaks and Peak Dale, St. Helena. Report for the St Helena National Trust, Jamestown 2008

*********************

edited: 02.12.2018