New Weevil Genus Discovered in 18th Century Specimen
Posted on July 26, 2013
A new weevil genus, Thunbergapion, was discovered during a routine study of some weevil specimens collected in the 1770s. Discovery reports that there over 40,000 known species of weevils on Earth. They are loathed by farmers and gardeners because they destroy plants by chewing them to deposit eggs. Weevil larvae then eat plants from the inside out when they hatch.
These little Thunbergapion weevils measure just 1.8 mm in length. The weevils were collected by Swedish botanist and entomologist Carl Peter Thunberg, a disciple of Carl Linnaeus, during his trips in the then Cape Colony of the Dutch East India Company, which is now Cape Town, South Africa.
Dr Miguel A. Alonso-Zarazaga, a weevil specialist at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain wanted to do a modern study of the species described by Thunberg. This particular species has not been found again since its discovery and description in 1813, after Thunberg's return to Sweden.
Dr. Alonso-Zarazaga, said in a statement, "This discovery comes to us from the past, Thanks to the good management of old collections like that of Thunberg in Uppsala, we can have a glimpse into the fauna that existed in South Africa in the end of the 18th century and that, perhaps in some cases, could have disappeared. That is why it is important to keep Natural History museums, collecting and keeping samples of the past and present faunas for the future generations. More than 200-year-old, this discovery has enriched the South African biodiversity because the Museum of Evolution of the Uppsala University has played the role in which society cast it."
The research was published here in ZooKeys.