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Apion tasmanicum Lea, 1910 (a species of straight-snouted weevil)

Basis for Tasmanian occurrence
Semmens, T.D., McQuillan, P.B. & Hayhurst, G. (1992). Catalogue of the Insects of Tasmania. Government of Tasmania: Department of Primary Industry, 104 pp.

TMAG collections

Classification
Order: Coleoptera

Suborder: Polyphaga

Superfamily: Curculionoidea

Family: Brentidae

Subfamily: Apioninae

Tribe: Apionini

Morphology
Typical length (mm): 1.5
Flightedness: winged and assumed capable of flight
Ecology
Assumed larval feeding: (not yet documented)
Association with dead wood or old trees: not saproxylic

Ecological attributes: — May occupy logs or trunks of Eucalyptus obliqua, at least temporarily, since found having emerged within six years of felling (Grove et al., 2009).

Collection method(s) for TMAG material: — Baited trapping (funnel trap) — Beating foliage of Dicksonia antarctica (Jones, 2007) — Emergence trapping from cut billets of Eucalyptus obliqua (Harrison, 2007) — Emergence trapping from log of Eucalyptus obliqua — Knockdown fogging of canopy of Eucalyptus obliqua — Knockdown fogging of canopy of Nothofagus cunninghamii — Knockdown spraying of bark of Eucalyptus obliqua — Malaise trapping — Pitfall trapping — Sticky trapping on Eucalyptus obliqua — Trapping using a range of devices placed in crown of Eucalyptus obliqua (Bar-Ness, 2005) — Vane trapping.

Source ecological literature:
Grove, S.J. (2009b). Beetles and fuelwood harvesting: a retrospective study from Tasmania’s southern forests. Tasforests 18: 77-99.
Baker, S.C. (2000). Forest litter beetles and their habitat: a comparison of forest regenerated by wildfire and logging practices. Hons. thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Baker, S.C. (2006b). Ecology and conservation of ground-dwelling beetles in managed wet eucalypt forest: edge and riparian effects. PhD thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Bar-Ness, Y. (2005). Crown structure and the canopy arthropod biodiversity of 100 year old and old-growth Tasmanian Eucalyptus obliqua. Msc thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Grove, S. et al. (2009). A long-term experimental study of saproxylic beetle … succession in Tasmanian Eucalyptus … logs… In: Fattorini, S. (Ed.), Insect Ecology and Conservation. Research Signpost, pp. 71-114.
Harrison, K.S. (2007). Saproxylic beetles associated with habitat features in Eucalyptus obliqua trees in the southern forests of Tasmania. PhD thesis, Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.
Yee, M. (2005). The ecology and habitat requirements of saproxylic beetles native to Tasmanian wet eucalypt forests: potential impacts of commercial forestry practices. PhD thesis, Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart.

Apion tasmanicum
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