Tag Archives: Tychanopais sp. Fred Cave

Tychanopais sp. ‘Fred Cave’

Fred Cave Weevil (Tychanopais sp.)

The Fred Cave Weevil is an up to now undescribed species that is known from a subfossil abdomen that was recovered from the deposits of a 14 m deep vertical limestone shaft on a farm in the Fred Cave Catchment in the Waitomo District in western North Island, New Zealand. [1]

The species is thought to be extinct; however, some few congeneric species still survive at rat-free offshore islets.

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References:

[1] G. Kuschel: The subfamily Molytinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): general notes and descriptions of new taxa from New Zealand and Chile. New Zealand Entomologist 9: 11-29. 1987
[2] Corinne H. Watts; Maureen J. Marra; Chris J. green; Lynette A. Hunt; Danny Thornburrow: Comparing fossil and extant beetles in central North Island forests, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 49(1): 1-20. 2019

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edited: 05.11.2020