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Hoherius meinertzhageni, the ribbonwood fungus weevil, is an endemic New Zealand beetle that has been recorded feeding on the ribbonwood species Plagianthus regius and Plagianthus divaricatus and the mountain lacebark, Hoheria glabrata.

Taxonomy
This species was described by Thomas Broun from a specimen that was collected by F.H. Meinertzhagen in Napier, New Zealand. This holotype specimen is stored in the Natural History Museum, London. Broun originally placed the species within the anthribid genus Anthribus and named the species after its collector. In 1982, Beverley Holloway reassigned Anthribus meinertzhageni to a new genus, Hoherius, named after the genus of plants, Hoheria, on which this species feeds. Hoherius meinertzhageni is the only species of its genus, and it belongs to the subfamily Anthribidae, the fungus weevils.

Description
Hoherius meinertzhageni is green, gray, brown, and lichen colored to blend in with the bark on which they live as adults. Their body is quite hard and coated in scales. Hoherius meinertzhageni is the only known New Zealand Anthribid species with long antennae and a pronotum wider than it is long. Adults are typically 3.0–6.7 mm long and 1.5–2.6 mm wide, with females and small males on the shorter side of this spectrum and large males on the longer side. Males and females show sexual dimorphism, and there is also dimorphism between the males. Males have a larger head, mandible, and body size than females. The only trait bigger in females is the elytra length. Small males show considerable dimorphism compared to large males, with features between large males and females

The head of large male morphs is long, wide, and shield-shaped. Females and small males have smaller, less shield-shaped heads. Male morphs show dimorphism in their head width, mandible length, and antennae length, and there is almost no overlap in the size and shape of the head when comparing them. Likewise, there is a clear variation in head shape, antenna length, eye shape, and mandible size between males and females. Large males’ heads are widest where the mandibles attach and become increasingly narrow anteriorly where the antennae attach. Females have long, narrow heads with a shorter distance between the antennae, eyes, and mandibles than males, with no lobes at the base of their antennae.

Female rostrums are 1.44–1.54 times wider than long, while the rostrum of both male morphs is 1.23–1.30 times wider. Because short rostrums evolved in this group after long rostrums were common across most of Curculionidae, H. meinertzhageni has a shorter rostrum than is typical in weevils. The rostrum of females and small males is flattened. The rostrum of large males is the same, but it is more exaggerated and convex under the antennae, and the hairs on the rostrum are denser and form a triangle in the center that fringes out towards the edges. The labrum in H. meinertzhageni is distinct and separated by a groove from the rest of the head, and the maxillae have long, flexible palps. Large males have larger, flattened mandibles than small males.

The antennae of H. meinertzhageni are situated on top of the head towards the middle, with a lobe at the base in males. The antennae of both sexes are elbowed, 11 segmented, have small bulbs at the end of each segment, and a club on the last segment of the antennae, with segment 10 being shorter than the rest. Female antennae are 1.05–1.28 times longer than the elytra, and male antennae are 2.5–5.0 times longer. Large males have much longer antennae than small males, with the first segment having long, dense hairs. The eyes in both sexes are located on the top of the head on the outside of the antennae and span down the sides of the head. Male eyes are 0.18–0.35 times the width of the rostrum, and female eyes are 0.50–0.54 times the width.

Male pronota are 1.73–2.09 times wider than long, while female pronota are 1.57–1.79 times wider. The pronotum is large, widest near the middle, rounded at the top, covered with cream-colored scales, and has a ridge on the edges. This wavy ridge angles backward and stretches the width of the pronotum at the edge closest to the elytra. As this ridge reaches the sides of the pronotum, it angles forward, creating distinct side edges.

The elytra are widest in the middle and have multiple circular peaks with black centers, found in greater numbers on large males. A light bark-colored streak runs down the center of the elytra, with green on either side anteriorly. Female elytra are 1.36–1.38 times longer than wide, and male elytra are 1.30–1.33 times longer. The wings are 3 times longer than wide and twice as long as the elytra, with anal veins but without an anal lobe. The abdomen has five ventrites, the first four of which are fused together, seven pairs of spiracles, and air sacs inside. The females of H. meinertzhageni have vulva with a pair of large membranous lobes ventrally, a small spermatheca, and an ovular spermathecal gland longer than the spermatheca. Hoherius meinertzhageni has 5 tarsal segments, with segment one being longer than segments two and three combined. The tarsal claws have a tooth on the inner edge.

The larvae are off-white, crescent-shaped, fleshy, almost cylindrical, and widest in the middle part of the abdomen. The abdomen has nine segments with two folds on each segment. They have large, strong mandibles with mouthparts facing downwards and single-segmented antennae. Anthribidae larvae have true legs, which are presumed to be primitive, but it is also possible that larval legs were redeveloped in Anthribidae.

Distribution and Habitat
Hoherius meinertzhageni is endemic to New Zealand and is not found anywhere else in the world. They have a widespread distribution across both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, from Auckland to Southland. It has been collected from sea level to over 1000 metres above sea level. The adults and larvae are only found on trees of the Malvaceae family. They feed and live exclusively on Hoheria glabrata, Plagianthus divaricatus, and Plagianthus betulinus. Adults stay on these trees and rarely come to the ground throughout their lives, while the larvae feed inside the stems and branches.

Life Cycle
Hoherius meinertzhageni is a type of weevil, so they undergo four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In temperate regions such as New Zealand, most weevil species overwinter as adults, lay eggs in spring or early summer, and the larvae develop in late summer. The generation time from egg to adult usually takes four to eight weeks. Very few weevil species have more than one generation per year, so H. meinertzhageni is not likely to be one of the exceptions. Most weevil eggs hatch 7-14 days after being laid, and the newly hatched larvae begin feeding right away wherever their mother deposits her eggs. Three to four larval stages are common for weevils, followed by a one to two-week pupal stage. After pupation, adults feed on the same trees where their larval forms fed throughout early fall to prepare for hibernation. Hoherius meinertzhageni adults have been found on the surfaces of trees between September and April and are active during the day.

Hoherius meinertzhageni has some very interesting mating tactics. Large males use their flattened rostrums and mandibles as battering rams when fighting for a mate. Fighting is initiated when one male comes close to another male guarding a female. After a fight, the male who has lost will walk away, and the winner will guard the female and mate with her. When guarding females, males hold their antennae over the females, using them to locate other males coming in. When a large male is distracted fighting or patrolling, smaller males will come in to mate with the female. The small males avoid fights at all costs, so when the large male returns, he removes the small male without a fight. Short antennae in small males may help them sneak past large males for mating as it makes them look more like females, but more research is needed to conclude this. After mating, females have been seen ovipositing eggs into the bark of a dead lacebark tree.

Diet
Hoherius meinertzhageni feeds exclusively on plant and fungal material, both as larvae and adults. Larvae feed below the epidermis and in the bark of dying branches and twigs. The larvae might need the help of plant parasitic fungi to convert the host tissue into something they can digest, but more research is needed to know for sure. Some New Zealand Anthribidae species feed on lichen, but most feed on fungal hyphae and reproductive units exclusive to Ascomycetes.

Predators, Parasites, and Diseases
Weevil larvae have few predators but are very susceptible to parasites because their feeding sites contain them. Very few predators hunt weevils specifically, but generalists such as predatory wasps, spiders, birds, and small mammals can catch and eat them. Parasitoid wasps and flies commonly target the larvae and can feed externally on them because they are protected by the plant. Like most things, weevils are also attacked by viruses, bacteria, and nematodes, but their biggest threat is habitat degradation by humans.

Close Relations
Hoherius is most closely related to the genus Proscoporhinus.

Divergence
The features of Anthribidae differ from those of other subfamilies of Curculionidae, so it is possible that they diverged from that main grouping a very long time ago, at least in the Cretaceous period. This makes Anthribidae one of Curculionidae's oldest and most distinct families.

Sexual Selection
The clear head and mandible shape variation between the male morphs is most likely driven by sexual selection. Sexual selection increases head size in large males to use for fighting, but small males maintain their size because of their alternative mating strategies.