Chrysolopus spectabilis
Encyclopedia
Chrysolopus spectabilis (Common name
s include Botany Bay diamond weevil, Botany Bay diamond beetle and sapphire weevil) is a species of weevil
found in south-eastern Australia
. It is up to 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in) long, with metallic green patterns on a black background. It is a specialist
, only known from 28 species of Acacia
. It was discovered during James Cook's first voyage
, and became the first insect to be described from Australia.
The snout is about as long as the bell-shaped pronotum, and strongly curved. The geniculate antennae
arise from half-way along the snout, and end in a small club. The compound eyes protrude slightly. The elytra display a row of furrows with slight depressions, and the animal's ventral side is also covered with scales. The powerful legs have a thick voering of hair on the tarsi, which have no claw
s.
The larva
e are 40 millimetre long; they are white, round and wrinkled, with a few hairs on their sides, and a red–brown head with black mandibles. To date, the pupa
has not been described.
stretching from the coastal region of Queensland
to Victoria
and eastern parts of South Australia
. It is most common in eastern parts of New South Wales
, particularly the surroundings of Sydney
, and out to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range
.
Adults
are active both in daytime and at night, mostly during the warmer months (November–March). During this period, C. spectabilis is often seen in built-up areas
and woodland
s in areas with moderate precipitation, particularly around Acacia plants. In open areas, such as northern New South Wales
, Acacia species with phyllodia (flattened leaf petioles) are preferred, but in more wooded areas, such as the Blue Mountains, species with paripinnate leaves are preferred. Adult beetles have been recorded on 28 Acacia species, out of the 1000 species present in Australia; the larvae, on the other hand, have only been recorded on seven species. The larvae are, however, thought to feed on the same species as the adults.
Chrysolopus spectabilis feeds almost exclusively on particular species of Acacia
, including the Cootamundra wattle Acacia baileyana, the silver wattle Acacia dealbata
, the Australian blackwood Acacia melanoxylon and the golden wattle Acacia longifolia
. The beetles choose young plants, around 50 centimetre tall, before they have flowered. They use the long snout and powerful mouthparts to make holes in the stem
and leaves
, in order to reach the sap
and to build egg chambers.
In south-eastern Australia, C. spectabilis can be a pest
of acacia plantations. Adults can destroy new shoots, and the larvae can limit the plant's water uptake. The adults can even cause a tree to die through ring barking
. Despite its garish colours, C. spectabilis is not poisonous. It is very alert, and if it senses danger, will either fall to the ground and play dead, or hold fast to the plant with its legs.
bore deeper into one of the plant's main roots. The imagines
(adults) emerge in the spring in the more southerly latitudes, but can emerge throughuot the year in the subtropical parts. They bore their way out of the plant, leaving the empty pupal case behind.
und Daniel Solander
at some time between April and August 1770, as part of James Cook
's first voyage to the south seas
. It was one of only five insects collected by that expedition, the others being a butterfly
, the ant
Myrmecia gulosa
, and two flies
. Banks summarised the Australian insect fauna thus: "Of insects here were but few sorts and among them only the ants were troublesome to us".
The insect collections were not otherwise mentioned in the logs of the Endeavour
expedition, and the locations where they were collected are open to speculation. Despite variations on the name "Botany Bay weevil", it was probably not collected in the vicinity of Botany Bay
, since it is typically too cold and wet there in April. It is more likely that it was collected in the warm, dry surroundings of Cooktown, Queensland
, which the expedition visited that August. After the colonisation of Australia in 1788, the species was frequently encountered in the summer months in the environs of Sydney
, explaining the common names.
The common name "diamond weevil" was coined in 1805 by Edward Donovan
. It is based on the name of the Brazil
ian species Entimus imperialis, which was known as the "diamond beetle", since the two species had similar colouration, and the diamond beetle was already well known in Europe. The two species are not closely related.
In the years following its discovery, "Curculio spectabilis" was a valued item for collections, due to its unusual appearance. The type specimen from the Endeavour expedition now forms part of the Banks Collection at the Natural History Museum
in London
. It is in good condition, although its legs are missing most of their tarsi.
in 1775 by the Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius
, in his work , making it the first insect to be described from Australia. Fabricius named the species Curculio spectabilis, where the specific epithet translates as "remarkable" or "admirable". Fabricius would have had ample opportunity on visits to London in the previous years to examine the insect collections from Cook's expeditions. Fabricius' species was transferred in 1817 by Ernst Friedrich Germar
to the genus Chrysolopus
, and so reached its current scientific name. Since then, other species have been added to the genus, which now contains 11 species, all native to Oceania. The colouration of the various species varies widely from green to black.
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
s include Botany Bay diamond weevil, Botany Bay diamond beetle and sapphire weevil) is a species of weevil
Weevil
A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than , and herbivorous. There are over 60,000 species in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae...
found in south-eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is up to 25 mm (0.984251968503937 in) long, with metallic green patterns on a black background. It is a specialist
Generalist and specialist species
A generalist species is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources . A specialist species can only thrive in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet. Most organisms do not all fit neatly into either...
, only known from 28 species of Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
. It was discovered during James Cook's first voyage
First voyage of James Cook
The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771...
, and became the first insect to be described from Australia.
Description
The body of Chrysolopus spectabilis is an elongated oval 15–25 mm (0.590551181102362–0.984251968503937 ) long. The elytra are black, with irregular spots of bright metallic green. The underside of the body is shaded in matt green, and a white or green line runs the length of the animal's sides. The head, thorax and legs are black with occasional metallic green markings. The colouration varies across the year, with animals emerging later in the season having a bluer colour.The snout is about as long as the bell-shaped pronotum, and strongly curved. The geniculate antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
arise from half-way along the snout, and end in a small club. The compound eyes protrude slightly. The elytra display a row of furrows with slight depressions, and the animal's ventral side is also covered with scales. The powerful legs have a thick voering of hair on the tarsi, which have no claw
Claw
A claw is a curved, pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger in most mammals, birds, and some reptiles. However, the word "claw" is also often used in reference to an invertebrate. Somewhat similar fine hooked structures are found in arthropods such as beetles and spiders, at the end...
s.
The larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e are 40 millimetre long; they are white, round and wrinkled, with a few hairs on their sides, and a red–brown head with black mandibles. To date, the pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
has not been described.
Distribution and habitat
Chrysolopus spectabilis occurs in the eastern and southern states of Australia, with a rangeRange (biology)
In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density.The term is often qualified:...
stretching from the coastal region of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
to Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and eastern parts of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. It is most common in eastern parts of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, particularly the surroundings of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and out to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
.
Adults
Imago
In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis, or after emergence from the pupa where the metamorphosis is complete...
are active both in daytime and at night, mostly during the warmer months (November–March). During this period, C. spectabilis is often seen in built-up areas
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
and woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s in areas with moderate precipitation, particularly around Acacia plants. In open areas, such as northern New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Acacia species with phyllodia (flattened leaf petioles) are preferred, but in more wooded areas, such as the Blue Mountains, species with paripinnate leaves are preferred. Adult beetles have been recorded on 28 Acacia species, out of the 1000 species present in Australia; the larvae, on the other hand, have only been recorded on seven species. The larvae are, however, thought to feed on the same species as the adults.
Ecology
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, including the Cootamundra wattle Acacia baileyana, the silver wattle Acacia dealbata
Acacia dealbata
Acacia dealbata is a species of Acacia, native to southeastern Australia in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory.-Description:...
, the Australian blackwood Acacia melanoxylon and the golden wattle Acacia longifolia
Acacia longifolia
Acacia longifolia is a species of Acacia native to southeastern Australia, from the extreme southeast of Queensland, eastern New South Wales, eastern and southern Victoria, and southeastern South Australia. Common names for it include Acacia Trinervis, Aroma Doble, Golden Wattle, Coast Wattle,...
. The beetles choose young plants, around 50 centimetre tall, before they have flowered. They use the long snout and powerful mouthparts to make holes in the stem
Plant stem
A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...
and leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
, in order to reach the sap
Plant sap
Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. It transports water and nutrients throughout the plant....
and to build egg chambers.
In south-eastern Australia, C. spectabilis can be a pest
Pest (animal)
A pest is an animal which is detrimental to humans or human concerns. It is a loosely defined term, often overlapping with the related terms vermin, weeds, parasites and pathogens...
of acacia plantations. Adults can destroy new shoots, and the larvae can limit the plant's water uptake. The adults can even cause a tree to die through ring barking
Girdling
Girdling, also called ring barking or ring-barking, is the complete removal of a strip of bark from around the entire circumference of either a branch or trunk of a woody plant. Girdling results in the death of wood tissues beyond the damage...
. Despite its garish colours, C. spectabilis is not poisonous. It is very alert, and if it senses danger, will either fall to the ground and play dead, or hold fast to the plant with its legs.
Development
Development of the beetles to the adult state usually takes less than a year. Females bore up to 20 small holes close to each other in the stem of the Acacia plant, immediately above the soil level, and lay a single egg into each hole. After hatching, the grubsLarva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
bore deeper into one of the plant's main roots. The imagines
Imago
In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis, or after emergence from the pupa where the metamorphosis is complete...
(adults) emerge in the spring in the more southerly latitudes, but can emerge throughuot the year in the subtropical parts. They bore their way out of the plant, leaving the empty pupal case behind.
Discovery
The earliest specimen of Chrysolopus spectabilis to be collected was caught by Joseph BanksJoseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
und Daniel Solander
Daniel Solander
Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.-Biography:...
at some time between April and August 1770, as part of James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
's first voyage to the south seas
First voyage of James Cook
The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771...
. It was one of only five insects collected by that expedition, the others being a butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
, the ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
Myrmecia gulosa
Myrmecia gulosa
The red bull ant , also known as the giant bull ant or "hoppy joe", is a species of bulldog ant from the genus Myrmecia. It is abundant throughout Eastern Australia....
, and two flies
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
. Banks summarised the Australian insect fauna thus: "Of insects here were but few sorts and among them only the ants were troublesome to us".
The insect collections were not otherwise mentioned in the logs of the Endeavour
HMS Endeavour
HMS Endeavour may refer to one of the following ships:In the Royal Navy:, a 36-gun ship purchased in 1652 and sold in 1656, a 4-gun bomb vessel purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a fire ship purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a storeship hoy purchased in 1694 and sold in 1705, a storeship...
expedition, and the locations where they were collected are open to speculation. Despite variations on the name "Botany Bay weevil", it was probably not collected in the vicinity of Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
, since it is typically too cold and wet there in April. It is more likely that it was collected in the warm, dry surroundings of Cooktown, Queensland
Cooktown, Queensland
Cooktown is a small town located at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs in 1770. At the 2006 census, Cooktown had a population of 1,336...
, which the expedition visited that August. After the colonisation of Australia in 1788, the species was frequently encountered in the summer months in the environs of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, explaining the common names.
The common name "diamond weevil" was coined in 1805 by Edward Donovan
Edward Donovan
Edward Donovan was an Anglo Irish writer, natural history illustrator and amateur zoologist.-Biography:Born in Cork, Ireland, Donovan was an avid collector of natural history specimens purchased mainly at auctions of specimens from voyages of exploration...
. It is based on the name of the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian species Entimus imperialis, which was known as the "diamond beetle", since the two species had similar colouration, and the diamond beetle was already well known in Europe. The two species are not closely related.
In the years following its discovery, "Curculio spectabilis" was a valued item for collections, due to its unusual appearance. The type specimen from the Endeavour expedition now forms part of the Banks Collection at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It is in good condition, although its legs are missing most of their tarsi.
Taxonomy
Chrysolopus spectabilis was first describedAlpha taxonomy
Alpha taxonomy is the discipline concerned with finding, describing and naming species of living or fossil organisms. This field is supported by institutions holding collections of these organisms, with relevant data, carefully curated: such institutes include natural history museums, herbaria and...
in 1775 by the Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius
Johan Christian Fabricius
Johan Christian Fabricius was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others...
, in his work , making it the first insect to be described from Australia. Fabricius named the species Curculio spectabilis, where the specific epithet translates as "remarkable" or "admirable". Fabricius would have had ample opportunity on visits to London in the previous years to examine the insect collections from Cook's expeditions. Fabricius' species was transferred in 1817 by Ernst Friedrich Germar
Ernst Friedrich Germar
Ernst Friedrich Germar was a German professor and director of the Mineralogical Museum at Halle. As well as being a mineralogist he was interested in entomology and particularly in the Coleoptera and Hemiptera. He monographed the heteropteran family Scutelleridae.Amongst Germar’s publications...
to the genus Chrysolopus
Chrysolopus
Chrysolopus is a genus of weevils in the family Curculionidae .-Species:...
, and so reached its current scientific name. Since then, other species have been added to the genus, which now contains 11 species, all native to Oceania. The colouration of the various species varies widely from green to black.