Melanterius corosus

Melanterius corosus (Boisduval, 1835)

(Figs. 48–49)

Cryptorhynchus corosus Boisduval, 1835: 430

Melanterius piceirostris W. F. Erichson, 1842: 211; Pullen et al., 2014: 227 (syn.) Melanterius adipatus Lea, 1899: 227; Pullen et al., 2014: 227 (syn.)

Boisduval gave the origin of corosus only as “ Nouvelle-Hollande ”, and Erichson that of piceirostris similarly as “Neuholland”. The type locality of adipatus is Sydney, and the types of the other two names may have been collected there as well. The species appears known only from New South Wales and the A.C.T. It is a short, broad, virtually asetose species (only minute, sparse silvery setae on the elytra and flat, broader scales on the legs) with indistinct striae (only rows of separate, large, elongate open punctures) and broad, slightly convex, shagreened interstriae. Even though its procoxae are almost contiguous, it has a flat mesoventrite. The body of the penis (Fig. 49) is short and broad, gently narrowing apicad and with a broadly rounded, weakly sclerotized apex and a large, characteristic basal sclerite.

The species has been reared in the Sydney area from seeds of A. longifolia, A. suaveolens and A. ulicifolia by T. Auld in 1981/1982 (Auld, 1983, 1989) and of A. brownii by T. Auld in 1985. We collected series of specimens from A. gordonii, A. suaveolens and A. ulicifolia in the Blue Mountains National Park, and a female was taken on A. complanata in the Newfoundland State Forest (Table 1). It appears that A. suaveolens, A. ulicifolia and perhaps A. gordonii are larval hosts (Table 2), but the species is evidently not host-specific.