Anagotus turbotti
| Turbott's weevil | |
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_AMNZ21840_profile_view.jpg) |
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| Anagotus turbotti (Spiller, 1942) profile view of holotype specimen held at Auckland Museum licensed under CC BY 4.0 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Curculionidae |
| Subfamily: | Cyclominae |
| Tribe: | Aterpini |
| Genus: | Anagotus |
| Species: | A. turbotti |
| Binomial name | |
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Anagotus turbotti (Spiller, 1942) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Turbott's weevil (Anagotus turbotti) is a weevil that is endemic to New Zealand. It has been found on the Hen and Chicken Islands, the Poor Knights Islands and the Three Kings Islands.
New Zealand entomologist D. Spiller first described this species in 1942 after a specimen was collected by E. G. Turbott from the Poor Knights Islands in November 1940.Anagotus turbotti was named in honour of its collector.
Turbott's weevil is one of the largest and most colourful of New Zealand's endemic weevils. This species is flightless and ranges in length from 18-25mm. It has conspicuous white markings and obvious tubercles.
The larvae of Turbott's weevils are wood borers and have been discovered in several different tree species. However they are most commonly found in ngaio and karaka trees.
The locality from which the type specimen of this species was collected is the island of Aorangi. As well as the Poor Knights Islands, Turbott's weevil can also be found on the Three Kings Islands and on Muriwhenua of the Hen and Chicken Islands. Adult beetles have been collected from Myoporum laetum and Corynocarpus laevigatus.
Adult weevils are active both day and night and have been observed consuming the leaves of the ngaio tree.
The Turbott's weevil is prone to rat predation. This is due to it being large and slow moving. The extinction of its sister species, Anagotus stephenensis from the mainland was probably due to rat predation. The Turbott's weevil was probably more widespread historically, but is now only found on predator-free islands.
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