Acicnemis Fairmaire, 1849

Lewis, Jake H., Kojima, Hiroaki & Campbell, Erin O., 2025, A Japan-focused review of East Asian Acicnemis Fairmaire, 1849 (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) reveals cryptic diversity in a well-studied region, ZooKeys 1259, pp. 103-167 : 103-167

Acicnemis Fairmaire, 1849

Oplocnemus Dejean, 1835 (Type species: Oplocnemus mucronatus Buquet nomen nudum).

Hoplocnemus Agassiz, 1846 (unjustified emendation of Oplocnemus ).

Acienemis Motschulsky, 1863 (incorrect subsequent spelling).

Berethia Pascoe, 1872 (Type species: Berethia medinotata Pascoe, 1872 ).

Acicnemus Haly, 1890 (incorrect subsequent spelling).

Type species.

Acicnemis variegata Fairmaire, 1849 (by subsequent designation).

Gender.

Feminine.

Description.

Body length 2.0–12.0 mm. Scale pattern: Usually cryptically patterned with contrasting brown, black, gray, and dull yellow scales. Pronotum and elytra often with erect scales. Head: Rostrum evenly curved in most species, and variably longer in females than in males; eyes large, ovate, and non-contiguous; antennae with seven-articled funicle. Prothorax: Densely punctate; pronotum often with tufts of erect scales; prosternum lacking well defined prosternal canal. Elytra: Scutellum varied (large, plate-like, naked scutellum in some species, or small and covered in scales in others); erect scales often only on odd-numbered elytral intervals; elytra unmodified in most species, costate in a few; elytra with apical projections in some species ( A. laticollis Pascoe, 1885 ); low tubercles along elytral intervals in some species, absent in most; volant, hind wings functional. Thorax: Sclerolepidia varied: prominent and protruding in some species, forming low, indistinct tubercles in others. Abdomen: First and second sternites variably concave medially in males (convex or flat in females). Legs: Femora all bearing a large ventral tooth (simple in most species, serrated in a few); forelegs elongate in some species (e. g., A. longimana Hubenthal, 1922 ); third tarsomeres emarginate (bilobed) in most species, truncate in a few; tarsal claws simple.

Distribution.

Acicnemis species are broadly distributed across the Palearctic Region ( Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Japan, Korean archipelago, Russia, Taiwan), the Oriental Region ( Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), the Australasian Region ( Australia, Fiji, New Guinea, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga), and apparently also the Afrotropical Region ( Nigeria) ( Hubenthal 1919 a, b; Zimmerman 1967; Alonso-Zarazaga and Lyal 1999; Kojima and Morimoto 2004; Oziegbe and Faluyi 2010; Pullen et al. 2014; Alonso-Zarazaga et al. 2023).

Ecology and natural history.

The larvae of Trachodini mine through dead wood ( Lyal 2014). Host plant associations are not well known in Acicnemis ; however, a few records exist ( Acicnemis palliata Pascoe, 1872 with Wisteria floribunda (Willd.) DC. and W. sinensis (Sims) DC. ( Fabaceae ) ( Morimoto and Miyakawa 1995; Lee and Morimoto 1996; Zhang 2021); Acicnemis suturalis Roelofs, 1875 with Wisteria brachybotrys Siebold & Zucc. ( Morimoto and Miyakawa 1995; Lee and Morimoto 1996); Acicnemis crassiusculus Fairmaire, 1878 with Hibiscus tiliaceus L. (1753) ( Malvaceae ) and Ludwigia spp. ( Onagraceae ) ( Zimmerman 1943; Oziegbe and Faluyi 2010); the larvae of one unidentified Acicnemis species were taken from a dead stem of Castanopsis sieboldii (Makino) Hatus ( Fagaceae ) ( Lee and Morimoto 1996). Some species are attracted to lights (e. g., A. azumai ) ( JHL pers. obs.).