Not since W Schultze, then the director of the Bureau of Science in Manila published his last work on the tribe in 1934, the study of these magnificent beetles, where Philippine occurring species are specifically mentioned, has been sporadic:

• JANCZYK 1959 Neue Curculioniden der Zoologischen Abteilung des Naturhistorischen Museums (2. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Curculionidae)
• STARR & WANG 1992 Pachyrhynchine Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) of the Islands Fringing Taiwan

Early this year, Sheng Yap (University Extension Specialist, Museum of Natural History, University of the Philippines Los Baños) got in touch with me and sent me two new and significant papers of the genus Metapocyrtus, a god send, considering the dearth of papers on the group:

• YAP & GAPUD 2007 Taxonomic review of the Genus Metapocyrtus HELLER Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae)
• YAP 2008 Checklist of the Metapocyrtus Complex (Curculionidae: Entiminae: Pachyrrhynchini) of the Philippines

I will be detailing these two papers in two succeeding posts.

Parandra cabigasi SANTOS-SILVA sp. nov.

I’ve now updated my Parandrinae and species pages to reflect a soon to be published paper by Antonio Santos-Silva that I have previously mentioned. As emailed to me by Dan Heffern, two beetle species in my collection, both collected in Mindanao, will be named as Parandra cabigasi and Parandra ohbayashii. These forms part of seven new species of the cerambycid subfamily that are new to the country.

Until the paper will come out, I am retaining the genus.

Some notes:

*Parazosne cabigasi VIVES sp. nov., is named after me. I originally placed this as Acronioglenea sp. in this post.

**He will also be describing a new genus, Cristaphanes VIVES gen. nov. which will have C. filipinensis VIVES sp. nov. as the species. As he emailed, it was supposed to be under genus Lasiophanes but since it is an occupied name, he will describe a new one.

***Epipedocera kalingana VIVES sp. nov. (from Kalinga province) brings to three the number of species under the genus. I first posted about this one here.

****Finally, the Polyzonus species that I have posted previously and erroneously identified as Podanychroma monticola HUDEPOHL 1989 will now be described as Polyzonus bentanachsi VIVES sp. nov. in honor of Joan Bentanachs.

Below are the species from my collection that will be included.

This is the new main page of salagubang.net

This site’s blog has just gotten a major makeover with the implementation of a new redesign of the wordpress theme. This is the Salagubang theme that I have been planning for months to do but got to make it only the other day. The major change is that I have extended the width from 760px to 960px to accommodate a general sidebar that will later be included in the non blog pages. This sidebar will be used for additional content or features that I will add later.

The main page was also replaced from HTML to a wordpress blog page. Using the Nextgen plugin, a flash based slideshow gallery becomes the focal point. The header has also been revamped. One of my problems in the previous design was the lack of space for the menu bar. That’s why some items in the blog section were not included in the HTML pages section. This time, I’ve changed it and is now complete.

The design will eventually be carried over to all the HTML based pages but it might take some time because of the number and editing that will be needed to fully implement it.

Total photos in salagubang.net is now at 1,242.

While the M. quadriplagiatus ROELOFS 1874 were more abundant, these species were found within the same locality but much fewer, especially this little plain brown ones which I found just on some trees.

This characteristic seems to be typical of the subgenus Artapocyrtus of which there are about 14 species found in different islands from Luzon to Mindanao. The other species that I have, the beautiful Metapocyrtus (Artapocyrtus) derasocobaltinus HELLER 1912, found in Samar and Leyte islands, has the same ventral projection.

All are new to Science and belongs to two species (figured here) of which five specimens is the latest addition that will bring Philippine Parandrinae to seven new species. As these came from me, the author will name it in my honor. AHEM.

I’m just too excited.

Last week, I posted about the Batocera rubus that I found during a trek for Cawayan Falls in Real, Quezon. Other than the cerambycid beetle, I also found three species of Pachyrrhynchini (two Metapocyrtus sp. and one Pseudapocyrtus sp. — not shown)

Just at the entrance to the trail beside the main road, I already found this Metapocyrtus quadriplagiatus ROELOFS 1874 among the vegetation. This species is quite common in the area and both male and female can be collected feeding. M. quadriplagiatus can be identified with the four elytral markings: two at the basal and two at the apical part. The females are definitely larger and in some instances, two small spots between the larger spots can be seen. Like the beautiful M. (Artapocyrtus) derasocobaltinus HELLER 1912 from Samar, and probably for subgenus Artapocyrtus, there is a conical projection just below the head.

The second Metapocyrtus species that I was able to find is this one with greenish spots, a marking that is rather common and found within many places in the country. I’m not sure what it’s name is but it’s similar in size to the former species. This is not as common but can be found feeding on the same hostplant.

The area where these species were collected was just beside the road near the river. I’m not sure what plant is this one but it’s not tall and the curculionids are easily collected amongst the leaves or crawling at the stems. When approached, it easily hides under the leaf but does not fall to the ground easily unlike other Pachyrrhynchini.

Unlike those of the genus Pachyrrhynchus, Metapocyrtus are rather adaptable to cultivated areas.